Bethune-Cookman’s firing of coach Clifford Reed Monday raised a few eyebrows for its timing. How does a school coming off its best season since 1981 fire its coach just before the July evaluation period?
It had its reasons.
Here’s the reason the termination letter cited:
“This decision is based on your failure to cooperate and insubordination with respect to the University’s investigation into allegations against the University and its men’s basketball program.”
It’s actually a little more complicated.
According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Reed refused to cooperate when police investigated rape allegations made by a player on the Bethune-Cookman women’s team. The coach was reportedly rude to detectives and would not allow them to enter the men’s locker room to swab a couch for DNA.
Turns out, in a police report released Tuesday, the investigation focused on Reed’s son, C.J. It’s all murky, though.
The alleged attack with in December (details can be found here). It wasn’t reported until a month later, at which point police tried to investigate. C.J. Reed was never mentioned by the accuser as her attacker. He was not arrested or charged after the accused refused to follow through with the investigation, according to police.
But at some point it became clear C.J. Reed was involved, which undoubtedly led to his dad’s involvement.
So why the termination now? Surely none of this was just revealed to the administration. The investigation was months ago. Police would’ve informed school officials about Clifford Reed’s insubordination back when it happened. What prevented officials from suspending Reed at the time while it assessed everything? Why did the insubordination become an issue in July when it wasn’t in January?
The reason for firing isn’t bad. But the timing still stinks.
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