Reed ends coaching career

COLDWATER - The successful career of head football coach John Reed is ending.

Reed has been battling esophageal cancer since he was diagnosed shortly before the Cavaliers began their playoff football run this past season. The Coldwater Exempted Village Schools board of education plans to accept his resignation tonight.

Reed's resignation will conclude a tenure in which the Cavalier football program become one of the best in Ohio, regardless of division. No successor is expected to be named at the meeting.

Coldwater Athletic Director Eric Goodwin, who requested members of the media not contact Reed due to his ailing health, had high praise for the coach.

"Besides Louie Brunswick (longtime Coldwater baseball coach), it's hard to come up with somebody that has done as much for Coldwater as John has," Goodwin said. "Very few people have done what coach Reed has for Coldwater, for this league and everything else."

Reed leaves Coldwater as one the most successful coaches in the history of the Midwest Athletic Conference while also being widely respected around the state.

In 15 seasons (1995-2009) as coach of the Cavaliers, Reed's teams missed the playoffs only once. He is the all-time winningest coach at Coldwater (168-31) and posted a record of 102-14 in conference play.

The Cavaliers captured two Division IV state titles - 2005 and 2007 - and finished as the state runner-up three times. Six MAC titles also were won during Reed's tenure.

Reed's career included stops at Lebanon (1988-93), Upper Sandusky (1983-87), Marion Harding (1972-82), Parkway (1972-77) and Montpelier (1969-71). His career record of 283-126-1 puts him in 11th in the state for wins. His teams captured nine MAC titles, three during his tenure at Parkway in the 1970s. He was inducted into the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association's Hall of Fame in 2006.

From 2000 to 2009, Coldwater won more games than any other team in the state, going 123-15 with a conference record of 70-4.

Goodwin, who came to Coldwater in 1998, got a quick education in the discipline Reed instilled into the football program.

"My first year here was the first year Coldwater went to state (in football)," Goodwin said. "I got a wake-up call right away. Fall is the first sports season and my first year on the job, here I am dealing with coach Reed and a state tournament run. There is no coach who is more demanding and expects more, not only from his players but from himself. There is no coach I ever met more demanding than John.

"I've always compared it to that father figure," he continued. "A lot of people say that of coaches, but I compare it because he's very disciplined, very demanding ... he has high expectations. He's one of those guys that when you go through it, you get upset about it, but when it's all said and done, you just respect everything he did for you, making you so much tougher and stronger and more demanding on yourself."