Raymond Woodie Jr.'s introduction signals step forward for Bethune-Cookman football

DAYTONA BEACH — Lawrence Drake and Reggie Theus acknowledged the wait.

For two months, Bethune-Cookman football sat in limbo. It endured one coaching search, then controversy and national headlines, then another coaching search. Wednesday, those two months came to a ceremonious end.

Raymond Woodie Jr. was officially introduced as the 16th head coach in program history during a news conference at the Larry R. Handfield Athletic Training Center.

“This is an amazing occasion,” Drake, the interim university president, said in his opening remarks. “It’s taken awhile for us to get to this moment. But boy, are we glad we’re at this moment.”

“Welcome to the day that seemed like it was never going to get here,” Theus, B-CU’s athletic director, said with a chuckle a few moments later. “... It took over about a month and a half, but it seemed like it was about a year and a half.”

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Now, Bethune-Cookman has its man. The contract is signed, and the ink is dry.

The new coach is a B-CU alum, who played for the Wildcats from 1992-95. He earned All-America honors on the field and in the classroom. He met his wife on campus and in the 27 years since graduating, he’s assembled a resume that spans more than a decade as a high school coach in Florida and another decade-plus as a Division I college assistant and recruiting ace across the country.

“It feels so good to be home,” Woodie said.

He had returned only once since he graduated. While coaching at Oregon in 2017, he came back for one day to run a camp with longtime boss Willie Taggart.

Wednesday, Woodie talked about potential schemes, recruiting and how he plans to build a coaching staff in the next 30 days. But mostly, he spoke about his vision for the program.

“It’s all about being smart, physical, aggressive and fast,” he said. “Being smart, that covers a lot. Discipline, doing the right thing in the classroom, on the field. When those things happen, wins are going to come. If you asked me ‘Are we going to do better than we did in the past?’ Yes, we are, in all aspects.”

Theus emphasized the importance of getting this hire right.

After the university concluded its three-week fling with Ed Reed, Theus added a few Wildcat players to the hiring committee to get their input. More than 150 coaches applied for the position.

“We took extra time,” Theus said. “We spent extra moments together. The great part about it is, there’s no doubt in my mind that (Woodie) embodies the spirit of Dr. Bethune. There’s no doubt in my mind, even getting to spend some time with him at the Orlando Magic game last night, just embracing the moment with him and spending time with his family, you can see where his values are.

“We have to have someone who has the right spirit, right decorum and represents our university proudly.”

Woodie met with his new team Wednesday morning. He said he laid down some ground rules and asked the players to give him a chance.

“We’re ecstatic,” junior linebacker Conroy Cunningham said. “We’re rejoiced that the train is back moving and we have a conductor that can lead us to the places we need to go.”

Now the real work starts. Woodie said as much during the news conference. The Wildcats went 2-9 each of the past two seasons. But for one day, Bethune-Cookman and its football program had closure.

“One thing that we know about the Wildcats is that we are a family,” Drake said. “We are a community. Regardless of what may happen from day to day and regardless of what you may see and hear, we know how to come together.

“Today is that day.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Raymond Woodie Jr.'s introduction signals step forward for B-CU football