Less than nine months ago, Ted Roof stood poised to achieve a football coach's dream. The Georgia Tech defensive coordinator was traveling to Notre Dame where he could expect to be offered the same job by George O'Leary, the former Yellow Jacket head coach, who had taken the head job for the Irish just days earlier.
"When I saw that O'Leary was going to Notre Dame, I called Ted to see if he might be interested [in Duke's vacant defensive coordinator job]-I figured he would have the chance to go with O'Leary, but I figured I'd check with him and see what the circumstances were," head coach Carl Franks said.
Roof, who spent four years coaching Duke's outside linebackers in the early '90s, caught up with Franks before replying that he was traveling to South Bend, Ind., and was expecting the Notre Dame job.
But on Dec. 14, 2001, Roof's situation changed drastically. O'Leary resigned as head coach at Notre Dame after inaccuracies in his resume dating back to 1980 were made public. O'Leary-and Roof-became men without schools.
Franks is not sure whether he contacted Roof or if Roof contacted him next, but the 38-year-old Georgia Tech graduate came to visit and discuss working for Franks. A snowstorm trapped Roof in Durham for an extra night and he stayed at Franks' house. The extra time proved important, and Roof accepted Franks' offer to coach Duke's defense.
"In this crazy coaching carousel, anything's possible," Roof said. "But I'm very glad to be here. I think we've got a great group of guys. I'm real impressed by their attitude and their work ethic."
Roof inherited a defense that could not have been much more inept in 2001. Duke's opponents averaged 37.3 points per game on 442 yards per game. Duke's defense intercepted just five passes and re-kk
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.