The Roof over Duke Football has collapsed.
Duke University fired head football coach Ted Roof Monday, relieving him of his duties after a heartbreaking 20-14 loss to rival UNC that dropped the Blue Devils to an 1-11 record for the year.
At an afternoon press conference announcing the move, Director of Athletics Joe Alleva cited the team's lack of progress on the field during Roof's four-year tenure as the key factor in his decision to cut ties with the program's 20th coach.
"This business is very result-oriented, and when you win four games in four years, it makes you take a hard look at what you're doing," Alleva said. "I felt that we had to make a change because of that.
"There's nothing else in Ted's character or integrity that would lead to a change here. He represented the University in a first-class manner and always did. It just comes down to a point where you need to win games."
Although Alleva said he decided to let Roof go Sunday night and informed the coach in a meeting Monday morning, the Director of Athletics said he "felt like the handwriting might be on the wall" after the Blue Devils floundered in a nationally-televised 28-7 loss at 2-9 Notre Dame Nov. 17.
As media reports began to appear near Thanksgiving suggesting he was to be fired following the contest in Chapel Hill, Roof was more or less able to predict Alleva's next move.
"I saw on the news on Thursday night that it might be headed this way," Roof said. "I've been in it long enough to know when there is that much smoke, there is usually fire."
Alleva did say he felt the program is in significantly better shape than it was when Roof took over in Oct. 2003. He also applauded Roof's commitment to graduating players and maintaining high ethical and academic standards for his team. But Roof's lack of similar success in the win column was ultimately his undoing-a fact readily acknowledged by the former coach.
"In the other areas that are important to me as a man and a leader-graduating our kids, making good men that positively impact our community--we won national championships in those two areas," Roof said. "But at the end of the day, everything falls on the head coach's lap... I take full responsibility."
Roof, who took over as the Blue Devils' interim head coach when Carl Franks was fired seven games into the 2003 season, started his temporary tenure strong, closing out the year with two conference wins. After a season-ending victory over UNC that year, Roof earned the job outright. But the former All-ACC linebacker at Georgia Tech was never able to recapture that early magic, averaging one win per year over the remainder of his tenure to finish his Duke career with a 6-45 record and a .118 winning percentage, a Duke all-time low.
Looking ahead, Alleva will lead a coaching search committee comprised of former players, administrators and faculty members with the goal of hiring a new coach by Christmas. In terms of what he is looking for in a new hire, Alleva repeatedly emphasized the importance of finding candidates with proven head coaching experience, preferably at the Division-I level. He did not place limitations on a candidate's age, and he admitted that the University is "probably going to have to pay a lot more money" than Ted Roof's reported $500,000 salary in order to hire a more experienced coach.
When asked whether he wanted an offensive or defensive-oriented coach, Alleva simply responded that he wanted a "good coach." Still, his later comments seemed to imply otherwise.
"We need a more exciting offense, an offense that scores points," Alleva said. "We're not going to get into too many defensive games and win games 10-7. At least right now, I don't think that's going to happen. I can see us getting into games 40-39 and winning those."
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