Reid named new GHS football coach

By Rob Craig
Published in Sports on May 20, 2007 2:11 AM

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Goldsboro High football is entrenched with Eric Reid.

A 1990 graduate of Goldsboro High School, Reid played three seasons with the Cougars on their offensive line and spent time coaching the junior varsity and varsity program over the past seven years.

It was because of that connection with Goldsboro that Reid was named the new head coach of the Goldsboro football program.

"I'm happy and blessed for them to give me this chance," said Reid. "I'm going to do everything in my power to do make (Patricia Burden and Randy Jordan) proud and to not let them down. For them to choose me is very humbling."

Reid will be taking over the program vacated by former coach Maurice Jackson who resigned this past February after guiding the Cougars to a disappointing 0-11 season.

A group of over 50 candidates applied for the position, which was then trimmed down to a final group of three.

Goldsboro principal Patricia Burden and athletic director Randy Jordan spent countless hours combing through the list of candidates.

"It was a tough process to go through and narrow it down to the people we even want to interview," said Jordan. "When we got it down to the top three, it was a very difficult selection. There were things in favor of each candidate."

The quality which most attracted Burden to Reid was his extensive Goldsboro background. Burden liked the fact that Reid graduated from Goldsboro, spent time coaching at the high school and has a passion for the school.

"We had a lot of good candidates for the job, but coach Reid is a known entity," said Burden. "All of those things came into play when making my decision. I felt like this was the way we needed to go."

Reid takes over the top spot at Goldsboro despite not having any head coaching experience at the varsity level. His varsity coaching résumé includes stints as an offensive line coach and serving as offensive coordinator last season.

"I realize the responsibility of the job," said Reid. "This is probably one of the best coaching jobs in eastern North Carolina. For my principal to have faith in me that I could do this job I am very grateful."

For the upcoming season, Reid will relinquish his offensive coordinator responsibilities so he can focus on multiple areas of the program.

"I'm going to pretty much try to keep my hands in everything, but I'm going to delegate the authority properly," said Reid. "I want to make sure everything is going to be in good hands."

Goldsboro is confident its program will be in good hands with Reid who preaches helping his players become good students and men.

"My young men are going to be ambassadors to this school," said Reid. "They're going to be seen in the classroom as positive individuals. You lead by example and if my kids can walk to the straight and narrow, I hope the other kids can fall in line."

On the field, Reid hopes a talented group of returning players as well as some talented newcomers - headlined by running back Anthony Council - will bring back a winning tradition to the Goldsboro community.

"We have a least four D-1 prospects right now and that's a great building block," said Reid. "We're setting our goals high, but realistically. We want to put a product on the field that the school, the community and the fans can be proud of."

Burden believes a strong work ethic can eventually translate into wins.

"I'm looking for a strong, well disciplined team that can work together and I think that success can come from that," she said.

One thing is for sure, the Goldsboro football program is now in the hands of an enthusiastic hometown coach who can't wait for the first day of practice on July 30.

"I'm very proud to be the head coach at Goldsboro," said Reid. "It was a once in a lifetime experience to come back home and coach at my home school. I never thought it'd happen.

"I just hope everyone is as excited as me and my kids are."