Former Ravens legend Ed Reed has a new job on the other side of the ball from where he built a Hall of Fame career: offensive coordinator at Chamblee High School near Atlanta.
Chamblee will be Reed’s latest coaching chapter – a program he’s quite familiar with. Reed was on the sideline for its 2023 Class 5A first round playoff game vs. Coffee High School. And his son, Edward Reed III, is a wide receiver and defensive back. He’ll be a senior in the fall. Former Raven Jamal Lewis’ son, Jazz, will be a sophomore wideout next year, too.
This isn’t Reed’s first foray into coaching.
The older Reed has dabbled with coaching since he officially retired from the NFL in 2015, signing a one-day contract with Baltimore to retire with the team where he spent 11 seasons, was selected to five All-Pro teams and won a Super Bowl.
In 2016, Reed was an assistant defensive backs coach for the Buffalo Bills. He then went back to his alma mater, University of Miami, in 2020-21, to serve as Manny Diaz’s chief of staff. He remained with the Hurricanes as a senior adviser as recently as 2022.
Reed was named Bethune-Cookman’s football coach in late 2022, a hiring that never reached the field. His contract wasn’t ratified in the aftermath of a viral, profanity-laced social media post. Reed reportedly told his players he was not leaving on his own accord, fighting through tears during a 15-minute goodbye.
Reed was also reportedly a finalist last month for the head coaching job at Alabama A&M, an Historically Black College and University.
Colorado coach Deion Sanders seems to have popularized the trend of colleges hiring former NFL stars to lead their football programs. Michael Vick recently took the lead job at Norfolk State and DeSean Jackson is headed to Delaware State. Sanders’ college coaching career has proven to be an early success, as he’s 40-18 as the head coach of Jackson State and Colorado.
Even Reed’s defensive counterpart, Ray Lewis, after having spent years disrupting offenses together in Baltimore, had his name mentioned in the rumor mill to coach at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University. Those report were quickly refuted.
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