Ted Roof hired as Tech coordinator
Ted Roof, once a Georgia Tech star linebacker and later an accomplished assistant, is returning to Tech once more.
Roof has been hired as the Yellow Jackets’ new defensive coordinator as the full-time replacement for Al Groh, fired in October. Roof leaves Penn State, where he had coached one season, for his alma mater.
In his only season at Penn State, the Nittany Lions ranked second in the Big Ten in scoring defense (19.1 points per game), fourth in total defense (356.3 yards per game) and first in sacks (34).
“I’ve known Ted for a long time and I’m excited that he has decided to come back to Georgia Tech,” coach Paul Johnson said in a statement. “He’s one of the most respected football coaches in the nation.”
Roof served as linebackers coach for former Tech coach George O’Leary for one season (1998) and then defensive coordinator for three. He left to become defensive coordinator at Duke in 2002 with the changeover in head coaches. During that time at Tech, he worked with Bill O’Brien, now Penn State’s head coach.
He later became Duke’s head coach 2004-07, getting fired after a 1-11 season. He was coordinator at Minnesota for one season, then coordinated the defense at Auburn 2009-11, helping the Tigers to the 2010 national championship. He left Auburn to become coordinator at Central Florida for O’Leary, but left shortly after for Penn State.
Roof used a 4-3 defense at Penn State. He said last August that “the main core is I want us to be aggressive. I want us to play fast. I want us to be physical.”
In 2009, while at Auburn, he described his philosophy as using 4-3 some of the time.
“We’re pretty multiple in what we do,” he said. “You have to have a system that’s adaptable to different types of people — especially if you’re coming into a new situation. It’s one thing if you’ve been at a place several years and you recruit to a specific system. It’s another thing when you come in, you’re new and you have a system that’s broad enough and diverse enough to handle whatever personnel. This league, you don’t trick people. You have to out-hit people. There won’t be much tricking going on.”
With the departure of interim coordinator/secondary coach Charles Kelly for Florida State, Johnson still has one more opening on his staff to fill.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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355 comments Add your comment
gtfanfrom1951
January 10th, 2013
6:39 am
Our offense avg. between 35 and 39 points a game if Ted can match 19 to 24 points a game Tech will be a top ten team again. Its a great hire. One because we go back to the 4-3 where we can get the players. Two he played, coached, and is from here. UGA are drinking the Grantham kool-aid because his defenses have never stop the run and Murry will be like MB and should have taken the money. UGA 7-6 next year
London Jacket
January 10th, 2013
6:43 am
I love it! I was at Tech when Ted was playing and got to know him reasonably well in classes and around campus. He is a great guy and like everyone says he is well known and well respected around Georgia and the Southeast. I remember playing pick up basketball with him, Whsienhunt and Swilling and although I am a big guy they beat the tar out me under the boards! I was bouncing around like a pin ball.
Could we have a return of the Black Watch?
ramblingbuzz
January 10th, 2013
7:40 am
The posters on here citing Roof’s stats from 13 year ago are trying to make what point? That he has not learned anything about coaching in the past 13 years? Well, I guess that’s possible, but TR is a real dumbazz if he hasn’t picked up anything about coaching D since he was last at Tech. Let’s use the most recent body of work, at Penn State, as the best indicator lof his coaching ability and wish him the best at GT. And if he is so terrible, why do head coaches who have worked with him in the past keep hiring him to coach for them? Blind loyalty? I doubt that. Success in the FBS division is measured by one thing, wins on the field not payback to an old buddy.
JB
January 10th, 2013
7:41 am
Good hire for Tech……and my Bulldawgs.
Clemson>LSU
January 10th, 2013
7:49 am
Clemson fans love the hire!
Cecil34
January 10th, 2013
7:57 am
Johnson very well may have hired his replacement….
GThoschton
January 10th, 2013
8:27 am
Hey this is a very solid hire for GT, every football coach knows they maybe fired one day, hell if this board had its way we might change on a game by game basis, CTR has worked under some of the best defensive minds in football and will do well, he will have the opportunity to work his scheme based on the players he has, but the key is the players he has, GT has to recruit better do you think it was the scheme that Alabama used or the jimmys and joes??????
Indydawg
January 10th, 2013
8:41 am
So when CPJ gets fired next year, he could step in and be coach…
Great move…
www
January 10th, 2013
9:13 am
2 questions -
will roof be able to move tech to a 4-3 system successfully?
CAN HE RECRUIT DEFENSIVE LINEMEN?
Sideways 77
January 10th, 2013
9:18 am
Great choice CPJ! Now go hire Giff and start recruiting.
When do we kick-off, looking forward to seeing a GT team play defense for the first time in at least 5 years.
Thanks to Coach Kelly for showing us that the Tech players can play defense. Now lets get better. We have a real tough schedule next year.
Tommy
January 10th, 2013
9:21 am
I like Paul Johnson and his offense.Let’s hope he has made the right decision for DC.
JAdams
January 10th, 2013
9:25 am
Great hire
Topp Dogg
January 10th, 2013
9:32 am
TR is a real mover and a shaker let me tell you,GA has already asked to give up the game and play Duke instead.
GT Fan
January 10th, 2013
9:49 am
IMO, most realistic GT fans know GT is a “stepping-stone” program. With Roof; however, he’s already done what the up-and-comer coaches do … position coach…DC…HC…and then some. Could this stint with GT be a long one for the Roof family? After all, he is a local kid & GT Alum.
In regards to recruiting ….. we all know how the kids these days love by “LOVED” and putting out their top 10, 5 & 3 lists. And I’m sure they all love the “BLING”. With that in my, I’m sure coach Roof will be sporting his National Championship ring when he vists recruits. A ring he acheived not while he was a position coach, instead while he was as a Defensive Coordinator, the title he has now.
GT Fan
January 10th, 2013
9:50 am
….how the kids love BEING “loved” …….
juvenal
January 10th, 2013
9:57 am
JB,i’d worry more about your NT play-explain how us getting rid of the 3-4 helps any of our opponents……..
Jasper Skank
January 10th, 2013
10:13 am
These guys don’t like contact! They love to arm tackle and dance! I say let’s call them “the black twa.”!
Flak Jacket
January 10th, 2013
10:18 am
Good hire for Jackets.He will work hard and that is just what GT football needs.
GT Mom
January 10th, 2013
10:29 am
We welcome back the “Black Watch!” Put those black stripes back on the helmets!
Chris Eagle
January 10th, 2013
10:34 am
So, what happened to all this talk about Rumph and Thompson getting the job? Everybody was spouting “an ALAbama coach will DEFINITELY” get the job. I thought UGA fans had cornered the market on WILD A** GUESSES.
Old Dog
January 10th, 2013
10:44 am
Be carefull in the showers boys. To Hell with Tek, today,tomorrow and every other day!
Tech Troll 13
January 10th, 2013
10:50 am
Super, you were right. Old Dog is a low life.
LawDawg
January 10th, 2013
10:50 am
Tech just hired the next “great defensive mind” who will be fired in 3 years for giving up yards and points in bulk against mediocre to terrible ACC offenses because of the fact that Paul Johnson is an awful, awful recruiter.
I’m not trying to troll your message boards, it is just a fact that as long as Johnson is there, Tech has no real shot at anything with the 2 and 3 star recruits.
ramblingbuzz
January 10th, 2013
10:53 am
Real classy post Old Dog.
Always A Jacket
January 10th, 2013
11:00 am
Roof did not leave AU for PS. He was run out of AU, O’leary gave him a job, then he went to PS because no one wanted that mess. Not a good hire. Letting Kelley leave was another PJ blunder.
Cats hav fleas 2
January 10th, 2013
11:02 am
For GT…probably a good hire.
JM
January 10th, 2013
11:04 am
looks like Gt needs a secondary coach
JM
January 10th, 2013
11:04 am
looks like GT needs a secondary coach
GTBob
January 10th, 2013
11:10 am
I’m not trying to troll your message boards, it is just a fact that as long as Johnson is there, Tech has no real shot at anything with the 2 and 3 star recruits.
Johnson’s recruiting is fine. There is no coach who could do substantially better at GT. Sorry, it just isn’t ever going to happen. Since he has been here he has signed 35 three star players and 7 four star players on defense alone. That is more than enough talent to field a competitive defensive squad.
alco
January 10th, 2013
11:12 am
tech’s having to hire auburn rejects—johnson can’t hire big names since he may be on the way out soon
buzzK
January 10th, 2013
11:15 am
if murray spikes the ball, GA beats alabama and beats notre dame easily—-why didn’t he spike it??
Ty
January 10th, 2013
11:18 am
Ted Roof was a great linebacker and forever will be remembered as captain of the “Black Watch” defense. As a coach, not so much. Having watched Ted’s defenses, he’s earned the name “Mr Prevent Defense” for his ability to always allowing his teams to snatch defeat from victory.
Don’t care about the “stats” (too many factors go into a summarized number and you can’t quote stats from the O’Brien or O’Leary years . . . . we all know those guys were the defensive leaders in the end).
What I see is Ted coming home (why else move DOWN from Penn State after a successful first year), and waiting for the axe to fall on CPJ (which is likely at the end of next season) . . . Yes, a step up from Al “Professor” Groh, but this defense will still get racked (in large part by spending 2/3 of the game on the field and 1/3 by Ted’s ability to go into a shell late in games).
Hope I’m wrong . . . afraid I’m not.
Gus in Marietta
January 10th, 2013
11:27 am
I think the world of Ted Roof as a person and think he was one of the toughest football players I have ever seen. No one got more out his gifts than Ted did on the field. But as a coach, he has been a disaster. His defenses were terrible at Tech. I remember sitting behind his wife in the stands, fans were booing and she was upset. Despite his ties to the school, eventually, it became unbearable and he left. His coaching at Dook and Awburn was no better. Yeah, he had a good year in Happy Valley this year, but that goes against the grain of his body of work.
This pretty much assures that the new AD will fire CPJ at the end of the 2013 season unless we do REALLY well. CPJ better dust off his resume….
GTBob
January 10th, 2013
11:33 am
This pretty much assures that the new AD will fire CPJ at the end of the 2013 season unless we do REALLY well.
After reading the online reactions from GT fans about this hire it seems that most Tech fans will be rooting for us to lose every game next season in hopes that the evil Ted Roof and CPJ will be fired. We really do have a miserable fan base sometimes.
Tech Troll 13
January 10th, 2013
11:42 am
GT Bob
I agree about our fan base. I moved my season tickets after the 2008 season because of the miserable human beings I was sitting around. They were always negative.
@ LawDawg
You failed. You are a troll, so take your Magic 8 Balll with your “facts” and return to court.
Mike
January 10th, 2013
11:47 am
This hire is really nothing to be excited about. Yes Penn St. was good this year on D, but that has been the case for a few years now. Roof inherited a very good unit. The story was much different at Auburn, and I can tell you Auburn people were glad to see him go. He was left with one of the top SEC units, and turned it into one of the worst. Auburn’s defense was MIA during Roof’s tenure. They had to outscore teams to get wins which is why most point to Cam Newton as the reason they won in 2010.
mic-man
January 10th, 2013
11:48 am
Has everyone forgotten about 2001? We had 5 defenders on the All-ACC team and we were horrible. Has everyone forgotten that 2001 Clemson game (Woodrow Danzler)? This is awful, awful.
Mike
January 10th, 2013
11:54 am
Brian Van Gorder took over for Ted Roof at Auburn and didnt have a lot good to say about the state of the program on that side of the ball. Van Gorder likes to dictate to an offense. Roof doesnt. He runs a more passive, gap filling scheme which never worked at Auburn. Anything can happen, but recent history points to a continuation of the defensive struggles at Tech.
Tech1986
January 10th, 2013
11:56 am
Again, he was going to be on Gailey’s staff as a Linebacker coach, but Gailey cut his pay in a third and he went to Duke to DC. It’s not X’s and O’s, it’s the Johnny’s and Joe’s. We need him to recruit talent and then coach them up. We have some guys who have redshirted who “look” good in a clean uni, but we shall see how they stack up. And everyone wanting to get some top name DC, send your checks to the Athletic department.
GTBob
January 10th, 2013
11:58 am
Has everyone forgotten about 2001? We had 5 defenders on the All-ACC team and we were horrible.
2001:
23rd in Run Defense
53rd in Pass Defense
32nd in Total Defense
37th in Scoring Defense
It wasn’t amazingly great but it was nowhere close to horrible. It would be miles better than anything we have had recently.
Mike
January 10th, 2013
11:58 am
Either Johnson is doing this on purpose because he knows he needs a scapegoat on defense, or he just doesnt know how to hire on that side of the ball. Al Groh had a better overall resume than Roof, and I thought Groh was an overrated hire as well. His D at Virginia wasnt that good, so why would he be able to come in here and turn us around? Same with Roof. If Roof cant build a defense worth putting on the field at Auburn with top 10 recruiting classes, how is he going to turn this program around? Go get someone that actually has a standing resume of real success at a level you know will turn this program around.
RAMBLE ON!!!
January 10th, 2013
11:59 am
GTBob,
“most Tech fans will be rooting for us to lose every game next season”
Sounds like you work for the Liberal Main street Media….
It is a terrible hire, but I’ll be pulling for GT at every game in hopes I’m wrong.
I like using history when available making my decision, how bout your self?
Great player, terrible coach.
Nothing will be any different next year. Good offense, no defense.
Tampa Wreck
January 10th, 2013
12:02 pm
OK.. I’m back off the ledge of the Sunshine Skayway… I definitely don’t like this hire! I saw enough of Ted Roof’s Defense the last time he was here at Tech. That said, I’m ready to give him a chance. In my thinking, this is CPJs last chance. I’ve supported him for 5 years, but the D has to improve. If he thinks Ted’s the man for the job.. OK, but he better be right this time.
Mike
January 10th, 2013
12:04 pm
@Tech1986 – its not about getting a top D coordinator. How about just getting one that is good? You dont even need to go get a guy from a top school either. Mark Richt got Brian Van Gorder from Western Michigan I think. Grantham was a linebackers coach at Dallas. There are a lot of good D coordinators at mid-major conferences or that are position coaches. You just have to know what your looking for. That’s where I think Johnson falls short. I dont think he really knows what kind of DC he needs for this program.
RAMBLE ON!!!
January 10th, 2013
12:06 pm
Hell, bring Gailey back. At least we had a decent Defense.
I’d rather watch us punt and stop the opposing offense, than watch the opposing offense run up and down the field on us.
CHARLES KELLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN NAME DC THE NEXT DAY AFTER THE BOWL GAME.
Mike
January 10th, 2013
12:07 pm
I stand corrected…Richt got Van Gorder from Central Michigan. Still, Van Gorder’s D was top notch at UGA, and his recruits excelled during the first few years Martinez was there. Once they left, Martinez struggled. Point being, you dont have to get a recognized name.
RAMBLE ON!!!
January 10th, 2013
12:07 pm
That ledge is looking pretty good.
Tech Troll 13
January 10th, 2013
12:09 pm
Mike, since you are so wise, who should have been the hire?
Mike
January 10th, 2013
12:09 pm
@RAMBLE ON!!! – I didnt want them to fire Gailey in the first place, not for Johnson anyway. I wanted to see what he could do with those recruits he started to pile up without Patrick Nix at OC, and yes, Tenuta’s D was far superior to anything we have seen since.
gt45
January 10th, 2013
12:14 pm
Welcome back, Ted! Great job C:PJ!