After 19 years involved in the Suffolk Athletics Department, Jay Parker switched roles from assistant baseball coach to the first-ever head coach of the women's golf program in 2016. He is set to begin his eighth season at the helm of the program in 2023-24.

After a slow first-season with just one head-to-head match and an individual outing, Suffolk made the most of its second year in 2017. Playing in its first championship campaign, Parker led the Rams to a runner-up showing at the Empire 8 Championships before guiding the blue-and-gold to the NEIGA DIII Title a week later. At New England’s, Nicole Antonucci, Brooke Chapman and McKenzie McGrath became the first-ever Suffolk women’s golfers to garner All-NEIGA status and did so in first-team fashion to cap off the fall season.

Suffolk’s success carried over to the spring slate, the program’s first-ever, where the Rams won the Westfield State Invitational.

Not only did Parker help Suffolk to a phenomenal start on the fairway, but also in the classroom as the Rams were acknowledged as an Empire 8 Academic Team in both the fall and spring semesters with four student-athletes earning President’s List honors with 3.6 grade point averages or above. Antonucci and Aine Dillon each collected the accolade for both semesters with Chapman earning the honor in the fall and McGrath picking up the recognition for the spring.

In his third season, Parker led the Rams to a tremendous fall campaign. The blue-and-gold was once again runner-ups at the Empire 8 Championships before repeating as the NEIGA DIII Champions two weeks later. At the conference championships, Aine Dillon and Brooke Chapman became the first women's golfer to garner All-Empire 8 recognition with spots on the first and second teams, respectively. All five Rams on roster earned All-NEIGA honors, Nicole Antonucci, Chapman, and McKenzie McGrath garnered the recognition for a second straight year, while Sophia Koester and Dillon picked up the nod for their first time. Additionally, Dillion also became the first-ever Suffolk golfer to capture a regional tournament title. 

In the spring season, Parker and the Rams transitioned to the newly formed Northeast Women's Golf Conference (NWGC) and topped the inaugural championship field led by the first-ever individual winner, Nicole Antonucci. Prior to taking the championship course at the Tekoa Country Club, the blue-and-gold faced off in a head-to-head match with Rhode Island College and captured the Westfield State Open title for the second straight season. 

In the new competition of the NWGC, Parker helped the program claim third on the first two-day conference championship course. At NEIGAs, the Rams’ run came to an end as they finished fourth despite Brooke Chapman swinging to All-NEIGA first-team status en route to become the first NWGC Golfer of the Week in program history.

Off the green in Parker’s fourth season Suffolk was acknowledged for its academic success with all four members of the squad – Tess Adams, Nicole Antonucci, Chapman and Madison Scheinberg earning the recognition.

Suffolk's fifth varsity season was unlike another as the COVID-19 global pandemic continued to cause riffs in the regularly scheduled season. The Rams, who missed the entire fall campaign, were able to get back on the green in the Spring 2021. Parker coached the blue-and-gold in four events highlighted by a runner-up finish at the third NWGC Championships. On the conference championship course, Colonie Country Club in Voorheesville, New York, Ellie Yarbrough (fourth), Isabel Smith (fifth) and Nicole Antonucci (tied-sixth) each finished inside the top six en route to All-NWGC honors. 

The standout of 2021-22, Parker's sixth season, Suffolk claimed the NEIGA title, its third in program history. At the regional championship, Isabel Smith became the second-ever Suffolk student-athlete to claim individual medalist honor. Smith was one of three blue-and-gold golfers to take home All-NEIGA honors along with Ellie Yarbrough and Madison Scheinberg.

On the conference level, the Rams finished as the runner-up of the 2022 NWGC Championship behind top-10 finishes from Yarbrough and Smith, who earned spots on the All-NWGC Second-Team.

In 2022-23, Suffolk was dethroned at NEIGAs and finished eighth in the 11-team field. At NWGCs, the blue-and-gold saw Ellie Yarbourgh turn in a top-3 finish. Behind her performance she earned All-NWGC First-Team status, the third all-league honor of her career, which makes her the most decorated Ram via NWGC in program history. 

Academically, Isabel Smith became the first member of Suffolk's women's golf history to pick up a College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District At-Large distinction, which is awarded to the most accomplished student-athletes for combined academic and athletic achievements each year since 1952. It is the longest-running and most prestigious academic and athletic award for student-athletes to receive. 

Parker, who was a part of Ram Nation for 19 seasons as an assistant baseball coach before taking his coaching talents from the diamond to the greenway in his first-ever collegiate head coaching position in the fall of 2016.

His 19 years spent with the Rams’ baseball program is a part of a 30-year coaching tenure, which was divided between high school – Mission High, Boston and Trinity Catholic – seven years with the All-Dorchester Sports League (ADSL) Connie Mack 16-18 team and Suffolk. In 2000, the ADSL Connie Mack team participated in an international tournament held in Havana, Cuba where they were the first American team to beat Cuba on their home soil. 

Parker moved up to the collegiate level when he joined Suffolk University’s ranks for the 2000 season. With Parker on the bench, the Rams joined the GNAC, put together two perfect ledgers against conference competition, locked up the regular season title five times and won the championship six.  He also has played a key role to six Suffolk trips to the NCAA Regional Tournaments. 

Parker is an alumni of Catholic Memorial ’81 and a 1986 graduate of Bridgewater State College.