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 recovered three fumbles all season. Roof came in and began a complete overhaul of the unit.
"They've done a lot of switching positions, putting guys in the right places where their athletic talent fits that spot," junior defensive tackle Matt Zielinski said. "It's really helped us hustle to the ball and helped guys get around the corner a lot quicker."
Junior linebacker Ryan Fowler, who led the team in tackles a year ago, has been moved from the outside to the inside, where he can make even more plays. True freshman Brendan Dewan was moved from running back to outside linebacker, where he started against East Carolina and from which he registered eight tackles, recovered a fumble and grabbed an interception he returned for a touchdown.
"The new attitude we've been implementing courtesy of Coach Roof has totally changed this thing around," Zielinski said. "He's emphasizing not how much you do, but how you do it. If you're going to mess up, mess up at 100 miles per hour, because it's going to happen."
Messing up at 100 miles per hour is a catch-phrase for Roof's defense, which did not mess up very often in Duke's 23-16 victory over ECU. The Pirates were held to just 155 yards of total offense. Duke committed a number of penalties and gave up a long touchdown pass, but the unit was much improved.
"We're all going to make mistakes--including me, including everybody--there's never really been a perfect ballgame," Roof said. "That's what we're trying to stress to them, that if you make it, let's make it an effort mistake. And then once we make it, learn from it and put it behind us and play on, because we can't let the last play affect what's going to happen on this play or the next play."
Roof's defense, like all aggressive defenses, are contingent on each player fulfilling his responsibility--covering a certain gap or freeing up another player. As an outgrowth of this, or perhaps just as a doting father, Roof has come to place a high priority on trust.
"I want to know as a coach and as a person, can I trust you?" Roof said. "Can I trust you to be where you're supposed to be? Can I trust you to be doing what you're supposed to be doing? Can I trust you to tell me the truth? It's no different from what I expect from my sons. At the same time, my sons absolutely love being around the football players. They're at practice every day, they're in the locker room with them. The players have been real receptive to that."
Roof's three-year-old twins Terrence and Michael follow their father around the field and, despite occasional protests, are made to shake hands with the people their father works with.
Returning to Durham with his family and forging bonds with his players and the community has been a rewarding experience for Roof.
"Family's everything to me," he said.
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