REPORT: HBCU hires former Florida State assistant as Head Coach to replace Ed Reed
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It's been a far busier news cycle than anyone involved with the Bethune-Cookman administration could've expected when the program began pursuing a new football coach at the end of November.
READ MORE: Florida State's full 2023 football schedule released
On December 27, reports began to surface that the university was planning to hire Ed Reed as its next head coach. A boisterous personality, Reed had previously played for over a decade in the NFL and was in the midst of beginning his coaching career at Miami. He was the Chief of Staff for the Hurricanes in 2020-21 and saw his role moved to Senior Football Advisor when Mario Cristobal arrived in town.
Prior to Bethune-Cookman ratifying his contract, Reed created a national stir by going on a profanity-stricken tirade to bring attention to concerning conditions at the school. In response, the Wildcats chose not to approve the hiring and decided to go in a different direction, which became official last weekend.
On Thursday afternoon, Bethune-Cookman reportedly found Reed's replacement. According to On3's Matt Zenitz, the Wildcats will be hiring Raymond Woodie Jr. as their next head coach. An alum of the university, he formerly worked at Florida State, Florida Atlantic, Oregon, USF, and Western Kentucky.
Woodie Jr. coached under former head coach Willie Taggart at all five of his previous stops; Western Kentucky (2010-12), USF (2013-16), Oregon (2017), FSU (2018-19), and FAU (2020-22). This will be his first job away from Taggart at the college level, who is now an analyst at Colorado under Deion Sanders.
The Florida native primarily worked with linebackers during his time on Florida State's staff from 2018-19. In 2018, linebacker Dontavious Jackson finished second on the team with 74 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one forced fumble, and one interception.
Bethune-Cookman is a program that is in need of a serious rebuild. The Wildcats haven't finished with an over .500 record since 2019. That includes a 4-18 record (4-12 in MEAC play) over the last two years where the team was handled by rival FAMU twice by a combined score of 87-41.
Woodie Jr. was previously a successful coach at the high school level but his abilities are about to be tested in Daytona.
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