DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Bethune-Cookman University officially unveiled its new head football coach on Wednesday.
Raymond Woodie, Jr., a BCU graduate and most recently a coach at Florida Atlantic University, will be the university’s 16th coach. It comes after a turbulent search for a coach that recently led to student protests over the state of the campus.
“I was amazed at what I saw and collected,” Woodie said.
Woodie graduated from BCU in 1996 where he was a letter-winner as a linebacker for four years.
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“We just showed up and got to work. We didn’t care about facilities or all those extra things that people visualize and that our program needs. Obviously things have to move forward to be in upper epsilon,” he said.
Players involved in the quest were also relieved it was over and pleased with the choice.
“With the amount of drama that transpired, including the players that I think allowed us to buy into Coach Woodie,” linebacker Conroy Cunningham said.
Woodie’s hiring comes after the university’s frantic contract negotiations with Ed Reed of the NFL Hall of Fame — and ultimately fails.
Reed used social media in the middle of the negotiations a tirade about seeing trash all over campussaying the facilities were falling apart and that his office wasn’t clean.
When the university withdrew the contract, it sparked a protest from students who claimed the university’s dormitories were full of mold and buildings were falling apart.
“We just reviewed our capital budget with the board last night. They’ve been very receptive and we’re on the move,” said interim president Lawrence Drake.
Drake said university leaders have just spent seven months analyzing over 100 facilities on campus and now agree about 60 of them need work.
It is estimated to cost just over $10 million and will involve major improvements to the sports facilities.
“If you look at how to transform the campus on some kind of consistent basis, on the one hand it’s about repair, but frankly on the other hand it’s about transformation,” he said.
As for Woodie’s arrival on campus, he said he’s ready to show his players what’s most important, putting their academics first and, of course, winning games.
“All these guys want to be in the NFL. The NFL stands for ‘Not For Long,’ but we’re going to make sure we get that meaningful closure,” he said.
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