Bethune-Cookman Athletic Director Reggie Theus has broken his silence on the controversy around Ed Reed’s contract negotiations being axed.

In an interview with HBCU Gameday, Theus said he advocated for Reed to be the head coach, “You look at what you’re trying to build for this university—those were the things that were the biggest factors. He had the ability to excite our fan base. He had the ability to recruit. He had a tremendous class he was trying to work on through the assistant coaches and his guys here. He was talking about some guys who are three-star, four-star players.”

However, Theus voiced his concerns over Reed’s viral video that slammed the school, “I was absolutely shocked at the behavior and really appalled. It’s sad because it’s so much bigger than Ed Reed.” He also said  Reed was aware of the challenges at the HBCU, including the lack of locker rooms for players, “Ed was completely aware of our situation at Bethune-Cookman. I showed him every single thing that was good about the program, and every single thing that was not good. There was no excuse for him to act like he was shocked. He acted like he didn’t know, but he knew. He knew everything, because I told him.”

Theus added, "He actually let us down, because we were expecting big things from him and his abilities to help us get where we want to go as a football program.”

See the interview below:

According to CBS Sports, on Jan. 21, the ex-NFL safety said his legal team could not come to an agreement on the terms of his contract. This came after the 44-year-old took to Instagram to rant about the HBCU and his regret of becoming the head coach. In the profanity-laced video, he publicly slammed the campus conditions of the university, before later deleting the videos and apologizing for his comments. Reed’s relationship with Bethune-Cookman University ended just 25 days after being named the head football coach of the HBCU.

Ed Reed was hired at BCU on Dec. 27, replacing Terry Sims, who was terminated after a seven-year stint with the Wildcats.