The president of Bethune-Cookman University on Monday revealed some of the reasons that led to the school deciding to part ways with Ed Reed as its football coach.
Reed and the school agreed in principle to become coach at B-CU on Dec. 27 before the deal fell apart amid a series of online videos where Reed blasted the university in a profanity-laced rant.
“As quiet as kept, that isn’t the kind of behavior that we would expect and then the expletives and you know those kinds of things in that video,” said interim B-CU president Lawrence Drake on Roland Martin Unfiltered, who confirmed it was his decision to not move forward with Reed.
Drake indicated that school officials also took into account not only the videos but the raunchy nature of the music which played in the background as Reed spoke on camera.
The president also explained that Reed was not authorized to record any videos at the school and that complaints of his office not being cleaned up lacked the context that Reed wasn’t assigned an office because the building where it was housed was undergoing renovations.
“We are trying to build a culture where people can say whatever they want to say. But we think you can do anything respectfully,” said Drake.
He also detailed that following the release of the videos, the school fielded inquiries from ex-players, alums, and even Disney — a sponsor associated with the university — inquiring what the administration’s response would be.
“And when you think about the culture that we’re trying to build, that we have companies and partners like Disney and some of our other partners calling saying, ‘What are you going to do about that?” he said. “We can’t support that kind of image. And of course, they’re (Disney) one of the biggest sponsors of the (Florida) Classic.”
Said Drake about why the agreement ultimately dissolved:
“And we just felt at this point it wasn’t a good fit for Ed and I or Ed and the university to agree on what kind of conditions he would have to come to and help us create and help us grow. He wasn’t in agreement with that. He felt that he needed to say his peace and call attention to the challenges as opposed to the opportunities.”
