Bethune-Cookman Replaces Ed Reed With Ex-FSU Coach Raymond Woodie, Longtime Willie Taggart Assistant

Less than two weeks after parting ways with Ed Reed, Bethune-Cookman University is reportedly set to hire FAU assistant Raymond Woodie Jr. as the program's next head football coach.

Woodie, who played at Bethune-Cookman from 1992-95, wrote in a Facebook post Thursday that he has accepted the job. On3 was first to report the move.

"Grateful, thankful and blessed to announce that I will be returning to my alma mater to serve as the next Head Football Coach at Bethune-Cookman University," he wrote. "I look forward to bringing a winning culture back to the city. Winning on and off the field are my top priorities for our team. I know we have work to do, and I hope that Wildcat Nation will be behind us!

"I look forward to seeing you all in the stands on Saturday’s this fall, and for many seasons to come. This is just the beginning! Let’s get after it Wildcats!!

Raymond Woodie replaces Ed Reed at Bethune-Cookman

Woodie has spent the better part of the past 13 years coaching alongside Willie Taggart at various places, including FSU and, most recently, FAU. He's also coached at Oregon, USF and Western Kentucky.

At FAU, Woodie was Taggart’s associate head coach, recruiting coordinator, outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator. The former Wildcat was also FSU's linebackers coach from 2018-19, while coaching special teams under Taggart at Oregon.

Woodie was an All-American at Bethune back in the early-1990s, and set a program record as junior with 14.5 sacks.

Of course, that was a different Bethune-Cookman than the one Woodie is reportedly returning to this season.

The university has been in the news for over a month now after briefly hiring Ed Reed at the end of December.

That era lasted a whole 25 days after Reed publicly criticized the school over its campus conditions in several viral social media posts.

Bethune-Cookman chose not to ratify the deal at the end of January, leading to a 15-minute, profanity-laced rant by Reed on Instagram that quickly went viral. The NFL Hall of Famer took aim at anything and everything during the tirade, including AD Reggie Theus.

Last week, Reed again took to social media to rip the university, Theus and fellow NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, while Theus pushed back on Reed's claims in his own interview.

While Bethune-Cookman has not yet announced Woodie's hiring, he would be replacing former coach Terry Sims, who was fired last year after back-to-back 2-9 seasons.

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Zach grew up in Florida, lives in Florida, and will never leave Florida ... for obvious reasons. He's a reigning fantasy football league champion, knows everything there is to know about NASCAR, and once passed out (briefly!) during a lap around Daytona. He swears they were going 200 mph even though they clearly were not.