Bethune-Cookman splits with football coach Ed Reed. Here's a recap.

It’s been a whirlwind offseason for the Bethune-Cookman football program.

After parting with former head coach Terry Sims in November, the Wildcats hired Ed Reed in December, only to split with him less than a month later. Now, the university has reopened its search for a new coach.

Here’s a recap of the situation.

How did Bethune-Cookman’s partnership with Ed Reed form?

Bethune-Cookman fired Sims on Nov. 29. In the following days, Athletic Director Reggie Theus assembled a hiring committee and received more than 100 resumes, he said in an interview with HBCU Gameday.

Theus narrowed the candidate pool down to two lists — a short list of Reed and two other big names and a longer secondary list. Reed stood out to Theus because of his football pedigree, past community involvement and ability to excite the fanbase, recruits and potential donors.

“And I do believe he’s really about the kids,” Theus said.

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What happened with Reed’s contract?

The school announced an “agreement in principle” with Reed on Dec. 27, but the two sides had not solidified the official terms. During the next three weeks, Reed came to Daytona Beach and began meeting with his new team.

Theus said negotiations were almost finished, but they still had to “dot the i’s and cross the t’s” and get the contract ratified when controversy struck.

What fractured Reed’s relationship with the school?

On Jan. 15, Reed went on Instagram Live and released a string of profanity-laced videos. He called out leadership at HBCUs, saying administrators have “broken mentalities.” He also criticized Bethune-Cookman’s facilities and claimed his office wasn’t clean when he arrived.

How did Bethune-Cookman respond to Reed’s videos?

After the rants, Theus realized the relationship between Reed and the school was no longer sustainable. He said he talked with Reed about it.

“I tried to get Ed to understand that this was not going in the direction he wanted,” the athletic director told HBCU Gameday. “I tried to give him an opportunity in the conversation to try to make him understand that, what he did in that rant and the videos afterward, this was not going to work.

“I tried to show him that the university was not trying to challenge him or trying to put him in a bad light. We wanted him to be able to walk away with his head up and basically just deciding that it was something that didn’t work for him.”

In an interview with Roland Martin this week, interim university president Lawrence Drake said he made the final decision to stop negotiations with Reed.

Reed announced the split with a statement on social media Saturday. He met with the Wildcat players that morning — something Theus said he was not authorized to do — and told them he was being forced out of the role by the administration.

How did the Wildcats react?

The Bethune-Cookman players have supported Reed on social media and in interviews. Saturday, they created a petition pushing to bring Reed back.

Many of them joined hundreds of other students Monday to protest campus conditions. The demonstration wasn’t solely about Reed, but students said his ouster served as inspiration to voice their concerns.

Where does B-CU’s coaching search go from here?

Despite pleas from Reed and some of the Bethune-Cookman players, Theus said Reed has “no shot” of returning as head football coach. The university will look to sign a replacement in the coming days.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Bethune-Cookman to replace football coach Ed Reed. Here's what we know.