Like an Old Rusty Dog, Mike Reed loves Coaching at Clemson

CLEMSON, S.C. — Mike Reed says he is like an old rusty dog. You cannot get him out of the dog pen.

Clemson’s cornerbacks coach is heading into his 10th season with the Tigers. He is now the wily veteran on a coaching staff that lost Tony Elliott, Brent Venables and Robbie Caldwell – three coaches who were on Dabo Swinney’s staff for at least 10 years.

Swinney also had to replace defensive tackles coach Todd Bates, who had been at Clemson five years before heading to Oklahoma with Brent Venables.

“It is funny, I am going on ten years,” Reed said. “I look around at the landscape of college football and I am a dinosaur. There are not many DB coaches that stay at an institution for more than five years. I don’t know. It is crazy. So, I count my blessings every day. I must be doing something right.”

Swinney thinks so. That is why the Clemson head coach promoted Reed to Assistant Head Coach and Special Teams Coordinator.

Reed admitted he was a little surprised when Swinney came to him about the promotion.

“I just keep my head down and work,” he said. “I have had my day when I was out there playing and needed people to recognize me. I am a guy that loves to be behind the curtain. It is somebody else’s time to shine. So, I just do what I do.”

And that is why Swinney thinks Reed is the kind of coach who will make a good head coach one day.

“I have grown, too. I have been stretched, too,” the cornerbacks coach said. “I work with great men who are very appreciative as coaches. So, for him, he sees something in me that he is like, ‘Hey! I have to groom this young man to be a head coach one day.’

“I don’t know if I am ready for it. I love what I do. And I love being with my kids, and when I say my kids, I mean my players. So, for me, it is a great situation to be in. For a coach to recognize me and to see those qualities in me. Some people don’t, but he does.”