Virginia Military hires Reid as coach



Georgia receiver Sean Bailey suffered an injury and will miss the Sugar Bowl.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEXINGTON, Va. -- Jim Reid was hired as the new coach at Virginia Military Institute on Thursday, taking over a program coming off a 3-8 season.
Reid signed a five-year contract to coach the Keydets. Financial terms were not released.
Reid was the head coach at Richmond for nine seasons before leaving in 2003 to serve as defensive line coach at Syracuse. He spent last season as an assistant at Bucknell.
The 55-year-old Reid succeeds Cal McCombs, who was let go Dec. 5 after going 19-60 over seven seasons.
"I accept the challenge to elevate the football program to the VMI standard of excellence," Reid said in a statement. "I am eager to meet the team and the VMI family."
Reid has 30 years of coaching experience, including 15 seasons as a head coach.
He served as head coach at the University of Massachusetts from 1986-91, going 36-29-2. He was the Yankee Conference coach of the year in 1988 and '90, when he led the Minutemen to conference titles and Division I-AA playoff berths. UMass also was a Yankee Conference co-champion in 1986.
He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at UMass in 1973 and was named an assistant coach in 1975, a position he kept for a decade.
Reid led Richmond to Atlantic 10 championships and I-AA playoff appearances in 1998 and 2000 and was conference coach of the year both seasons. He was co-coach of the year in the Yankee Conference his first season at Richmond in 1995. Reid had a 48-53-1 record while in Richmond and led the Spiders to three top-20 finishes.
Reid first came to Richmond as a defensive coordinator in 1992, but left in 1994 to run the defense at Boston College before returning as head coach of the Spiders a year later
"Coach Reid is a seasoned head coach and proven winner at the I-AA level," VMI superintendent General J.H. Binford Peay III said.
Reid's son, Matt, served as an assistant baseball coach at VMI in 2002.
Bailey to miss Sugar Bowl
ATHENS, Ga. -- Georgia wide receiver Sean Bailey will miss the Sugar Bowl after injuring his right knee during practice.
Bailey injured the knee Tuesday night and was evaluated by the school's sports medicine staff Wednesday, the school reported. An MRI confirmed a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Reconstructive surgery is scheduled for January, said Ron Courson, Georgia's director of sports medicine.
Bailey, who caught two touchdown passes in Georgia's SEC championship game victory over LSU, had 16 catches for 364 yards and four touchdown receptions this season.
No. 8 Georgia meets No. 11 West Virginia in the Sugar Bowl in Atlanta on Jan. 2.
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