Some more insight on Ed Reed’s potential game-day responsibilities for Miami Hurricanes
The Miami Hurricanes are still sorting out what the day-to-day responsibilities will be for Ed Reed this coming season. They know he’ll be able to recruit when prospects visit campus and they know he’ll be a valuable mentor to have walking around Coral Gables whenever he’s in town.
They don’t know for sure yet what his responsibilities will entail on game days, although Blake James offered some insight Friday into Miami’s thinking of what those responsibilities could be for the new chief of staff. Reed won’t just be a valuable mentor to the players, the athletic director said. Reed will be helpful for Manny Diaz and his assistant coaches, too.
“Just to be around him I think will be a benefit for our young guys and then for our coaches to be able to get his perspective, for him to be able to break down film,” James said in an interview with Marc Hochman and Miami Herald reporter Adam Beasley on WQAM, the Hurricanes’ flagship station. “I don’t know all the roles he’ll play on game day, but if you envision Ed being up in the box on the headset, talking down to Manny what he’s seeing or if he’s down on the field talking about what he’s seeing, those are all things that we’ll work out within the rules of what we can do in college athletics with his role. But there’s a lot of things he’s going to be doing, a lot of things he’s going to be touching.”
There isn’t much precedent for chiefs of staffs across the country. Most of the programs with a chief of staff view it as more of an administrative role, a true assistant to the coach.
This, of course, will not be Reed’s role. The Pro Football Hall of Famer will have much more intensive football responsibilities at Miami. He’ll be able to play a role in film study and game planning. He can help evaluate prospects and recruit them when they’re on campus for unofficial or official visits. While he won’t be able to work hands-on with players during practices, he can observe and offer his insights to assistant coaches or even talk football when he crosses paths with players away from the field.
His relatively unprecedented title, however, means the Hurricanes still need to check with the NCAA about what Reed will be allowed to do on game days.
Most likely, Reed will be viewed similarly to a quality control analyst or player personnel coach, meaning he couldn’t coach players, but he could interact with coaches to offer his insights. He also would likely not be allowed to use a headset after the NCAA passed a rule in 2019 limiting coaching staffs to 23 headsets — 11 for the on-field coaches, four for graduate assistants, four for players, three more listen-only headsets in the coaching booth, and one for on-field use in a non-coaching activity, such as charting plays. Unless he’s granted use of the 23rd headset in the booth, Reed would only be able to communicate with coaches face-to-face, meaning he would have to be on the field to have a direct line of communication to Diaz.
Ultimately, it’ll be easiest for Reed to share his knowledge in the weeks leading into games.
“He’ll be able to be there to mentor the guys,” James said. “When you have a guy who’s been a national champion, a Super Bowl champion, an NFL hall of famer, a College Football Hall of Famer, a University of Miami Hall of Famer and, oh by the way, one of the 100 greatest NFL players ever, there’s so much knowledge.”
James once again praised Diaz for his openness to making changes after a massively disappointing debut season in 2019. Adding Reed to the program was only one part of the Hurricanes’ successful offseason, but it was a crucial one and James said Diaz played a huge role in bringing him to South Florida.
“When Manny first told me that they had spoken and it’s something that he was excited about, I thought it was a home run for the guys in our program and just helps us grow as a program, so we’re thrilled to have him on the team,” James said.
It was one of the highlights of a hugely encouraging offseason for James.
After last season, Diaz changed his offensive coordinator and offensive line coach in hopes of fixing the two biggest problem areas for Miami in 2019. Diaz at least diagnosed his issues and was proactive in making changes, which helped James feel confident in the direction of the program with Diaz at the helm.
“One thing that’s really impressed me with Manny is Manny is great at taking constructive criticism, really evaluating things and then going out, and addressing those issues and, again, you see it, whether it’s from the kicker to the quarterback, to changing the offensive style to the coaching changes he made,” James said. “Manny’s someone who looks at things, recognizes there are things that need to be fixed, and he’s going to get them changed and fixed.”
