Mahomet-Seymour graduate Bodie Reeder joins Auburn football staff
By FRED KRONER
For all of the perceived glamour of college coaching, there is an often-overlooked element that traditionally comes with the territory.
Mahomet-Seymour graduate Bodie Reeder can talk about an aspect that many people don’t recognize.
“I met my wife (Ashley) at Wisconsin-Stout,” Reeder said. “We got married in Oklahoma.
“Since we’ve been together, we’ve moved five times in six years.”
The journey took the family from Oklahoma to Washington, then down to Texas, before a relocation to Utah.
The most-recent move took place less than three months ago, in January, when Reeder joined the football staff at traditional national power Auburn University.
The person who holds all of Mahomet-Seymour’s season and career passing records is serving as an offensive analyst for the Tigers.
When the season arrives, Reeder said, “I’ll do advance scouting and present them with a rough game plan.”
Auburn is now in its next-to-last week of Spring Practice. Reeder works with the quarterbacks on a daily basis, under the watchful eye of Auburn offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Bobo.
Reeder’s hiring at Auburn capped an otherwise tumultuous 2020.
After spending the 2019 season at North Texas, where he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Reeder accepted a similar position for 2020 at Utah State.
Midway through the fall season, Utah State head coach Gary Anderson was fired after an 0-3 start.
“Forty-eight hours after he was let go, I got COVID,” Reeder said. “I signed a two-year contract, but didn’t do much coaching. It was a funky year.”
It was another contract that Reeder signed that proved beneficial as he started thinking about where his third coaching stop in three years would be.
“When I went to North Texas, I signed with an agent,” Reeder said. “That helped with prospects.
“I was lucky to get on here.”
Previous connections were important as Reeder wound up in the SEC.
During the 2017 and 2018 football seasons, Reeder was the offensive coordinator at Eastern Washington. The school’s defensive coordinator was Jeff Schmedding.
Both left Eastern Washington at the same time. Reeder headed to North Texas. Schmedding went to Boise State, where the head coach was Bryan Harsin.
Last December, Harsin accepted the head coaching position at Auburn, a university which in its history has had 80 first-team All-Americans and three Heisman Trophy winners.
Harsin brought along Schmedding as the inside linebackers coach and the defensive run game coordinator.
In turn, Schmedding put in a good word for his friend, Bodie Reeder.
“Jeff helped me get on down here,” Reeder said. “It’s not all based on knowledge. It’s who you know.”
Reeder knows that good fortune has shined on him.
“The SEC is everyone’s goal,” he said. “It’s the highest level of college football.
“The SEC West is an especially tough league.”
Reeder acknowledged that he had other offers, but didn’t pursue them.
“I was still being paid until 2022,” he said.
While he is adding to an already-impressive resume, Reeder realizes he might be a short-term staff member at Auburn.
“I’ll move on,” he said. “Analyst positions were created for guys like me, who were either let go or living out the back half of a contract.”
If a full-time coaching spot opened up at the university, Reeder wouldn’t be opposed to staying.
“You never know,” Reeder said. “Sometimes guys look internally rather than do a national search.
“Every day here is super. I wake up and pinch myself that I have this opportunity.”
After serving as an offensive coordinator at the college level for seven of the past 10 years, Reeder has no qualms about working in a different capacity.
“It’s good to step back and learn from a guy like Mike Bobo (the former head coach at Colorado State),” Reeder said. “I’m working with the same position group as I did in the coordinator world.”
Auburn is coming off a 6-5 season that ended with a loss to Northwestern in the Citrus Bowl.
Reeder is surrounded by a strong staff at Auburn.
“The people you work with and for are as important to having happiness and success as any facility or location,” Reeder said.
The number of moves Reeder has made in the past decade haven’t been a total surprise.
“I didn’t know it would be like it was, but I knew I’d be moving around because the coaches I played for had a number of different moves,” Reeder said.
After graduating from M-S in 2005, Reeder started his college career at Wyoming, but transferred to Eastern Illinois University, where he passed for 3,741 yards and 23 touchdowns in 30 games between 2006-09.
When he finished high school, Reeder saw a different road for his future than what became reality.
“If you want to go into coaching, you had to have had an enjoyable playing experience,” Reeder said. “The people at Mahomet were great, Tom Shallenberger and Steve Kreps (in football), Brian Schwarzentraub (in baseball) and my dad (Jerry) was always around. They gave me the want-to to be a coach.
“Originally, I wanted to teach social studies and geography and coach high school. That was because of Nathan Seal. I loved his classes.”
Though he decided to stay in the collegiate game following a year as a football grad assistant at EIU (in 2010), Reeder hasn’t lost touch with his roots.
“I still hold Mahomet close to my heart,” Reeder said.
A four-year starter at quarterback for the Bulldogs, Reeder passed for 6,582 yards and 67 touchdowns during his prep career. He set the single-season passing mark as a senior with 2,342 yards. He also lettered in basketball and baseball at M-S.
Auburn offers Reeder another advantage besides an upclose introduction to SEC football.
“It’s something great for my career,” he said, “and for family. We’re closer to the Midwest. We’re on the right side of the Mississippi.”
Reeder’s parents live in Ivesdale.
As he looks ahead, Reeder hopes to find a location where he can establish himself for a longer period of time.
“We’re still chasing the dream we’ve got,” Reeder said. “We have a young son (Crew, who will turn 2 in June) and as he gets into school age, we’d like to try and find more permanence.”
At this point, Reeder’s son isn’t enamored with his dad’s occupation.
“He’s not much into sports yet,” Bodie Reeder said. “He likes cars, and running around.”
Auburn opens its 12-game 2021 season with a Sept. 4 home game against Akron.
