The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Roof joining N.C State next month
Defensive coordinator’s job security with Tech had been questionable.
Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Ted Roof has been hired by N.C. State as a co-defensive coordinator for the Wolfpack. Roof, whose job security at Tech had been in question since the end of the season, will begin in his new position in January, according to a news release from N.C. State sent out Friday.
Roof was hired by Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren to be the team’s 10th assistant coach. Beginning in January, NCAA rules will permit FBS staffs to expand to 10 assistants. Roof will also be given the title of associate head coach and will work with N.C. State’s nickel backs and safeties along with assistant Aaron Henry. N.C. State’s defensive coordinator is Dave Huxtable.
“I’m looking forward to joining the N.C. State staff and coaching for one of the most passionate fan bases in the country,” Roof said in a statement. “I have tremendous respect for Dave Doeren and the strong staff he has assembled and am excited about working with a great coach like Dave Huxtable. I can’t wait to get there and get started.”
Roof ’s hire at N.C. State eliminates the possibility of coach Paul Johnson being in the uncomfortable position to fire a member of the Tech hall of fame, with the
oversight of Athletic Director Todd Stansbury, a teammate of Roof’s. Such a decision would also have been a fifinancial hit on an athletic department that fights to break even annually. After receiving an extension earlier this year, Roof had two years remaining on his contract and would have been owedthefullremainingvalue of $1.6 million had he been dismissed.
“I’d like to thank Ted for all that he has done for Georgia Tech and our football program,” Johnson said in a statement. “I wish him and Pam nothing but the very best. I hope to fifill our defensive coordinator position soon.”
Roof ’s departure completes a five-year term at his alma mater, where he starred as a linebacker 198285 and previously served as defensive coordinator from 1999-2001. His unit had its successes, suchas its 29 takeaways in the 2014 season, its top-15 fifinish this season in defensive third-down efficiency and the development of defensive tackle Adam Gotsis into a second-round draft pick. In league play this season, the Jackets were third in total defense (sixth in yards per play).
However, Tech’s defenses cameupshort inotherways. TheYellowJacketswere consistently at or near the bottomnationally in tackles for loss. Tacklingwas sometimes a problem. Tech particularly had diffifficulties this season stopping opponents on the fifinal drives of the fifirst and second halves, lapses that provedcostlyinlosses toTennessee, Miami and Virginia.
Going into his 11th season, Johnson now will be hiring his fourth defensive coordinator, following DaveWommack, Al Groh and Roof. It would be diffifficult to categorizeanyason- fifieldsuccesses. By the measurement of the website Football Outsiders, Tech has never fifinished better than 62nd nationally in defensive effifficiency in Johnson’s tenure.
On his staffffffffffff, safeties coach AndyMcCollumhas themost experience and served as defensive coordinator at Baylor in 1995-96, as well as a seven-year term as head coach at Middle Tennessee State. Charles Kelly coached at Tech 2006-12 and was an effective recruiter before leaving for Florida State, where he served as defensive coordinator for the past four seasons. Kelly is still on the FSU staffffffffffff, but newcoach Willie Taggart may hire his own defensive coordinator. Kelly reportedly interviewed with Colorado State for its coordinator opening earlier this month.
It’s possible that Roof ’s son T.D., a linebacker who just completed his freshman season at Tech, will follow his father to Raleigh. The ACC previously had a rule that penalized a transfer to a school within the conference — on top of sitting out a year, scholarship athletes had to pay their own way for that year and also lose a year of eligibility — but it is no longer in place. T.D. Roof could sit out a year at N.C. State and have three years of eligibility remaining.
In Raleigh, Roof would also be closer to his other son, T.D.’s twin brother Mic, who just fifinished his freshman season as a quarterback at Charlotte.
Barring a meeting in the ACC Championship game, Georgia Techplays N.C. State next in 2019, at Bobby Dodd Stadium.