In a pair of Twitter posts one-time candidate to be the Chief of Staff for the Miami football program Alonzo Highsmith, lauded the Hurricanes hire of Ed Reed for that position and compared his return to Coral Gables to Michael Jordan returning to North Carolina.
The recruitment of Alonzo Highsmith for the Chief of Staff position with the Miami football program created a lot of excitement and a polarized process from the Hurricanes fanbase. When Highsmith was not able to come to an agreement with the Miami athletic department the fallout was significant.
The announcement of Ed Reed as the Chief of Staff on Thursday alleviated a lot of those ill feelings. Highsmith posted on Twitter on Thursday afternoon that “Ed Reed coming back to Miami is like Jordan going back to North Carolina Cane Legend, HOF and anything else that describes great.”
Highsmith posted a second tweet that Reed is a great hire and he is pulling for him. The praise from Highsmith is important. Highsmith has been a scout and executive in the NFL for 20 years. The former Miami Hurricanes fullback was a Senior personnel executive with the Green Bay Packers from 2012–2017)
I heard Miami hired Ed Reed that’s a great hire and pulling for him🏈💯🙌
— A. Highsmith (@alonzohighsmith) January 30, 2020
Highsmith moved on from Green Bay to become the Cleveland Browns Vice president of player personnel from 2018–2019. It has been speculated that Highsmith could not work out terms of a deal, salary and job description to become the Chief of Staff for Miami and a proposed General Manager’s job doesn’t exist in college football.
Ed Reed coming back to Miami is like Jordan going back to North Carolina💯 Cane Legend, HOF and anything else that describes great🏈
— A. Highsmith (@alonzohighsmith) January 30, 2020
Bringing back legends will not make a difference one way or another to the success Miami will have. It does bring good publicity and support from the Hurricanes fan base for Reed being part of the Miami coaching staff. Reed will almost exclusively work behind the scenes. He will be a mentor to the Hurricanes players.
As many observers of the Miami football program have stated, bringing in Reed cannot hurt. Having Highsmith supporting the move definitely helps. Reed joining the Miami football staff should appease the board of trustees which is always critical. Other additions Manny Diaz has made to the Miami staff will have a greater impact.