Mike Reed would still like to be a head football coach one day.
It’s one of the few things Clemson’s assistant has yet to achieve in more than three decades involved in the sport. A former college and NFL player, Reed is embarking on his 10th season as the Tigers’ cornerbacks coach, making him the longest-tenured assistant on Dabo Swinney’s staff.
Not that Reed is rushing out the door for that specific opportunity.
“I don’t know if I’m ready for it,” said Reed, who will turn 50 years old in August. “I love what I do, and I love being with my kids. And when I say my kids, I mean my players.”
Reed said he doesn’t yearn for that kind of recognition at this point of his coaching career, which started in Germany after his playing career ended with the Frankfurt Galaxy in the late 1990s. Reed’s first two stints as an assistant at the collegiate level (Richmond and N.C. State) were sandwiched around five seasons as a defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The longest tenure of Reed’s coaching career has been at Clemson, where he’s helped produce multiple all-ACC cornerbacks since being hired away from N.C. State in 2013. Four Clemson cornerbacks have been drafted into the NFL since 2014, including 2020 first-round pick A.J. Terrell. Andrew Booth and Mario Goodrich, both first-team all-league corners this past season, will soon add to the list.
Swinney recently recognized Reed by giving his veteran assistant more responsibilities along with a raise. In addition to coaching Clemson’s corners, Reed will coordinate special teams again. He was also given the title of assistant head coach in January, taking that over following former offensive coordinator Tony Elliott’s departure.
“I’ve grown, too. I’ve been stretched, too,” Reed said. “I work for a great man who’s very appreciative of his coaches. He sees something in me that he’s like, ‘Hey, I’ve got to groom this man to be a head coach some day.
“For me, it’s a great situation to be in for a coach to recognize me and see those qualities in me. Some people don’t. Well, he does.”
Reed doesn’t take that for granted, particularly given how fluid his industry can be. Elliott, who left to take his first head coaching job at Virginia, was one of a handful of coaches to leave Clemson since the end of last season, and Reed himself has been courted by other programs over the years.
Georgia reportedly had interest in adding Reed to its staff this offseason, but it didn’t happen.
“I’m what you call one of those true soldiers,” Reed said. “I’m here until the end. When the last bullet is fired, Coach Reed is still there. I’m like that old, rusty dog. You can’t get me out of the pen.
“It’s funny. I’m going on 10 years (at Clemson). I look around at the landscape of college football, and I’m a dinosaur. Ain’t many (defensive back) coaches that have been at an institution more than five years. It’s crazy. So I count my blessings every day.”
Reed has had other signature moments in football. He played on scholarship at Boston College and was taken by the Carolina Panthers in the 1995 NFL Draft. He’ll wait to see if more come his way. Until then, Reed will continue doing the only thing he knows to do.
“I just keep my head down, and I work,” Reed said. “I’ve had my day where I was out there playing and all of that and needed people to recognize me. I’m a guy that loves to be behind the curtain. It’s somebody else’s time to shine. So I just do what I do. As Coach says, bloom where I’m planted. That’s me.”
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