Gators quality control assistant Kareem Reid leaving UF
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators are losing defensive line quality control assistant Kareem Reid. The assistant was announced as the new head coach of McEachern High School in Powder Springs, Ga., on Tuesday after just one season with the UF program.
“Grateful for the relationships forged and experiences gained in college football these past two years,” Reid said in a statement on Twitter. “Learned so much from coach [Gus] Malzahn and coach [Billy] Napier.
“With that said, I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to lead one of the premiere programs in Georgia. I’m back!”
A native of North Miami, Fla., Reid spent the 2021 season as the director of player development at the University of Central Florida. Prior to UCF, Reid served as a high school head coach and assistant in Florida and Georgia from 2007-19.
As head football coach at Westlake High School in Atlanta (2016-19), Reid led the team to win three consecutive GHSA Region 2-7A championships and three state playoffs (2016, 2017 and 2018). He was named Region 2-7A Coach of the Year in 2016 and 2018, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Metro Atlanta/Fulton County Coach of the Year in 2016.
Reid also served as head football coach and assistant athletic director for Coconut Creek High School in Coconut Creek, Fla. (2013-16), where he elevated a winless football program to national recognition in three years.
A defensive lineman from 2004-06 with Knights, Reid graduated with a degree in criminal justice in 2006 from UCF and earned his master’s degree in teaching health and physical education at Georgia State University in 2019.
Gators lose and replace defensive coordinator Patrick Toney
Wednesday news broke that defensive coordinator Patrick Toney was leaving the Gators for a job with the Arizona Cardinals.
According to On3’s Matt Zenitz, newly-hired Alabama assistant Austin Armstrong is headed to the University of Florida to become the defensive coordinator. He landed in Tuscaloosa as the inside linebackers coach but does have defensive coordinator experience, handling that role with Southern Miss over the past two seasons.
“Austin Armstrong is indeed leaving Alabama and taking the defensive coordinator job at Florida, sources tell On3sports,” Zenitz said on Wednesday morning. “Armstrong was Southern Miss’ DC the last two years prior to joining the Bama staff in January.”
During his time in 2021 and 2022 at Southern Mississippi, Armstrong was the youngest coordinator in the NCAA. In 2022, Armstrong’s Southern Miss defense ranked 57th in total defense, giving up 372.2 yards per game and 5.4 yards per play.
Napier and Armstrong’s connection goes back to 2017 and 2018 when Armstrong served as a graduate assistant under Napier at UL.
