From playing football overseas to coaching on the biggest stage in American sports, one Wilmington native has seen it all in the football world.
Mike Reed, 50, played college football, played in the NFL and has coached the sport at nearly every level. For the past 10 years, he has been coaching at Clemson University, where he has helped win two national championships.
His entire football journey, which spans decades, began in Wilmington, Delaware.
Growing up in Wilmington, Reed attended Salesianum School, where he initially planned on playing baseball and basketball. Reed picked up a helmet in his junior year in 1989 and spent two years on the football team.
Not highly recruited as a football player, Reed planned to enter the military after high school. The son of a career Marine and the grandson of a World War II veteran, Reed dreamed about following in his family’s footsteps.
“I lived vicariously through my father. And the whole uniform, the whole discipline of the military is what attracted me,” Reed said. “I can remember growing up and sitting on my dad’s lap watching military war movies on Sunday and Saturday. And it was like, that was my lifelong dream.”
Reed’s mother, however, didn’t think her only son should be “getting shot and killed,” Reed said. So when Boston College offered Reed a scholarship three days before National Signing Day, Reed took it and spent the next four years in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
From college to the NFL draft
“It was an opportunity for me to grow as a man to meet other people from other walks of life, to make lifelong friendships, and, ultimately, to meet my wife,” Reed said of his time at Boston College. “It was a great opportunity for me.”
Playing at Boston College from 1991-1994, Reed finished with six career interceptions, according to Sports Reference. He was named second-team All-Big East Conference in 1993 and was a team captain for his senior season. After graduating with a communications degree, Reed tried his luck in the 1995 NFL draft.
Watching the draft from his home in south Wilmington, Reed waited and waited. But as time went on, round after round, he didn’t hear his name called. Two hundred forty-eight picks went by with no mention of the Delaware product. Reed had turned the TV off, and with nobody around him, he finally received a phone call from the owner of the Carolina Panthers saying the team was going to select him with the last pick of the draft at No. 249, making him Mr. Irrelevant.
“Literally, I ran outside and just yelled, ‘Thank you, Jesus.’ And everybody around the surrounding block came up and started rejoicing with me,” Reed recounted of his draft experience.
Reed felt like he was better than the last pick of the draft, he said. Still, receiving the call was a “breath of fresh air” and an opportunity to prove himself.
“I didn’t feel like a star,” Reed said. “I just felt like, for me, I had to prove myself not only as an athlete but also had to represent my state, my city, you know, where I was from. So it was, for me, ‘Hey, I gotta go and leave a legacy.’ And I want to make sure that people can see that, hey, this young man from south Wilmington can make it.”
Short NFL career transitions to coaching
Reed’s NFL career was shortlived, as he played for the Panthers for two seasons in 1995 and 1996 and then played overseas in Frankfurt, Germany, for the now-defunct Frankfurt Galaxy NFL Europe team for two years.
“Never in my mind would I have imagined going to Germany, playing football, and having that opportunity,” Reed said. “It was awesome because you get to meet different people, you get to touch different lives. And that was probably the one aspect of where the coaching career came to mind.”
After hanging up his cleats, he turned his attention toward coaching and coached in the German Professional League for two seasons before accepting a job at the University of Richmond. Following a two-year stint there, the Philadelphia Eagles hired Reed as an assistant defensive coach, a title he held for five seasons.
In the 2004-2005 season, Reed had the chance to coach on the sidelines of Super Bowl 39 when the Eagles came up short against the New England Patriots.
“It was an awesome feeling, man, and not too many people can say that they’ve coached in the Super Bowl,” Reed said.
After his time at Philadelphia, Reed spent six seasons at NC State from 2007-2012. He has since settled at Clemson, where he has been the cornerbacks coach since 2013. Since Reed joined the staff 10 years ago, Clemson has won two national championships in 2016 and 2018, seven ACC championships and has been a college football powerhouse.
Through his journey, Reed has learned to “bloom where you’re planted,” whether that be in South Carolina or in the First State.
“I don’t say I’m from somewhere else, you know? Delaware is it for me,” Reed said. “I’m proud of my state. Not too many people who leave there actually claim it, but I do. It was a great training ground for me.”
Fingerprints all over the NFL
Reed has coached some of the NFL’s most talented defensive backs over the years.
Going back to his time in Philadelphia, Reed coached Hall of Fame safety and Eagles legend Brian Dawkins, who happened to play at Clemson in his college days.
“It wasn’t much coaching with Brian, you know, because he’s such a pro,” Reed said. “He worked so hard, and it was a joy because he was not stressful (to coach). He was a worker and a great guy to be around.”
Since joining Clemson’s staff, Reed has helped send multiple cornerbacks to the pros, including Atlanta’s A.J. Terrell, Philadelphia’s Mario Goodrich and Minnesota’s Andrew Booth Jr.
What’s next for Reed?
Reed has lived and coached up and down the East Coast, but for now, Clemson is home.
Reed, the father of two daughters, said that going to work every day “is a joy” and believes the college town in upstate South Carolina allows his family to flourish.
“It’s a great place,” Reed said of Clemson. “I work with some great people, you know, and a lot of people in the profession allow money to determine their success or their walk of life. For me, I want to be around great people; I want my family to be around good people. I set out to come to Clemson to be the best that I can be, and it came to fruition, for the most part.”
