Reade's teams went unbeaten for 60 straight games (59 wins, one tie) between the start of the 1983 season and the second round of the 1987 NCAA Division III playoffs, when Augustana lost to Dayton, 38–36.
Reade was the head football coach at J. D. Darnall High School in Geneseo, Illinois from 1962 to 1978, compiling a record of 146–21–4.
In 1979, Reade was hired at Augustana College, an NCAA Division III school in Rock Island, Illinois.
Reade was a recipient of the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1998.
In 1993, Reade authored a booked titled Coaching Football Successfully (ISBN 087322518X), for which Penn State's Joe Paterno wrote the foreword.