Bio

The NJCAA Region 2 Council of Chancellors and Presidents have announced that Chris Parker has been selected as the inaugural NJCAA Region 2 Commissioner and will begin duties July 1, 2025. Parker returns to Region 2 after two years as the Director of Athletics at NCAA Division II and Gulf South Conference member Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee.

As Commissioner, Parker will oversee all aspects of Region 2 Athletics including administration, legislation, budgeting, eligibility, compliance, sport scheduling, championship events, athletic communications, marketing, sponsorships, staffing, and member institution relations. The Commissioner position reports to the NJCAA Region 2 Council of Chancellors and Presidents with day-to-day support provided by the Council’s Executive Committee. The need for a commissioner came about with the expansion of athletic programs in the region which has gone from just 12 to 25 programs in Arkansas and Oklahoma in the last seven years.

In under two years at CBU, some of the changes under Parker’s leadership include the Buccaneers updating department structure to add four assistant athletic director positions and the university’s first-ever strength coach, expanding their livestreaming capabilities to cover seven sports from just three, replacing both the soccer and softball scoreboards, adding baseball pitch clocks, baseball stadium windscreens and soccer backstops, a complete renovation of the volleyball locker room, initiating a redesign of the athletic web site, creating revenue streams through a new crowdfunding campaign and new ticketing vendor, and negotiating a new apparel and equipment contract with Nike through BSN Sports.

Prior to CBU, Parker served 13 years at Region 2-member Arkansas State University Mid-South where he helped begin the athletics program in 2010, and served as Athletics Director and Head Men’s Basketball Coach as well as Region 2 Women’s Director.

As NJCAA Region 2 Women’s Director, Parker served on several national committees including the NJCAA Division II Oversight Committee, the NJCAA Student-Athlete Academic Success Council, the NJCAA Division I Softball Committee, the NJCAA Tennis Committee, and the NJCAA Division II Women's Basketball Committee where he helped push the expansion of the women’s national basketball tournament from 16 to 20 teams.

As Athletics Director, Parker oversaw the Greyhounds’ move into the Glen F. Fenter Athletic Complex, was responsible for the creation, development and maintenance of the athletics department's infrastructure and athletic communications, and was responsible for ASU Mid-South being the first two-year college in Arkansas to offer electronic ticketing and live-streaming for all home games.

As a coach, Parker led the Greyhounds to ten straight appearances in the Region 2 Championship game, winning six region titles and two district championships, and making two appearances in the NJCAA National Tournament, finishing 5th in the nation in 2018 and 8th in 2023. He finished his collegiate men’s basketball head coaching career with a 222-130 overall record as the winningest junior college program in the state of Arkansas during that span, and saw 40 players move on to four-year colleges.

Prior to ASU Mid-South, Parker coached 13 years at the collegiate level at Arkansas Tech University, Houston Baptist University (now Houston Christian University), Texas Southern University, Jackson State University and Lubbock Christian University, serving as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at his last three stops. Parker was a part of five conference championship teams during this time and appeared in four national tournaments, six conference tournament championship games and coached over 25 student-athletes who went on to play professionally, including two in the NBA. In addition, Parker was a head coach for six seasons in the Arkansas high school ranks winning three conference championships and playing in four state tournaments.

The Friendswood, Texas, native earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Corporate Video with a minor in Business from Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, and a Master’s degree in Sports Administration from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He is married to Dr. Brooke Parker, and the couple has three married children and one grandchild.