Ted Roof

The following season, the Yellow Jackets were again one of the top defenses in the nation, ranking 23rd nationally in total defense and 32nd against the run.

Terrence Edwin Roof Jr. (born December 11, 1963) is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the UCF Knights.

He previously served as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at the University of Oklahoma.

After graduating from Central Gwinnett High School, Roof went on to play football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in 1982.

He started his final three seasons and served as team captain while leading the Ramblin' Wreck's famed "Black Watch" defense as a senior.

Their success fueled Georgia Tech's run to 9–2–1 in 1985, including a win over Michigan State in the All-American Bowl.

Roof was honored as a member of the All-America team, was selected to the All-ACC first team, and was named the Defensive Player of the Year by the Atlanta Touchdown Club.

He remains among the most prolific tacklers in program history, ranking second for most tackles in a game with 25 against Tennessee in 1985 and seventh on the all-time tackling list with 417.

Roof attended Central Gwinnett High School and earned his bachelor's degree in management from Georgia Tech in 1987.

Roof is married to Pam Ash-Roof of Fayetteville, Georgia, and the couple have twin boys, Terrence Davis and Michael Edwin.

Terrence is a linebacker at the University of Oklahoma, and Michael is a quarterback at Charlotte.

Roof began his coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at the University of Alabama in 1987, where he helped on defense before taking his first full-time position as the linebackers coach at the University of West Georgia for the 1989 season.

After Steve Spurrier left Duke University in 1990, his successor, Barry Wilson, lured Roof to fill the position coaching outside linebackers on his staff.

When Wilson and his staff were fired after the 1993 season, Roof left to serve as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator for University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Roof took his first job as defensive coordinator in 1997 at Western Carolina University, where he stayed one season before being lured away to join George O'Leary's staff at his alma mater.

After spending the first season coaching the Yellow Jackets linebackers, Roof was promoted to defensive coordinator.

Roof was enshrined into Georgia Tech's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998.

A former standout at linebacker for Georgia Tech, Roof was the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech for two stints, from 1999 to 2001 under George O'Leary and 2013 to 2017 under Paul Johnson.

He was nominated for the 2000 Broyles Award, an annual honor given to the nation's top assistant coach, when his defense finished the season ranked 12th in the nation in rushing defense and 20th in scoring defense.

From 2001 to 2002, the Blue Devils moved from ninth to fifth in the ACC and from 113th to 58th nationally in total defense.

When O'Leary left for the University of Notre Dame, Roof left Georgia Tech to become the defensive coordinator at Duke for the 2002 season.

Roof's instruction brought marked improvement to the Duke Blue Devils defense, which led the ACC in rushing defense after finishing ninth in the league the previous year.

Roof served as the head football coach at Duke University from 2003 to 2007, compiling a 6–45 record.

They progressed in passing defense in the 2003 season, jumping to third-place in the ACC from ninth the previous year.

When head coach Carl Franks was released midway through the 2003 season, Roof was promoted to interim head coach.

The team finished the season by winning two of the last three games and Roof was subsequently hired as the 20th head coach at Duke on December 6, 2003.

--Kenneth Stanford, 2004 Duke co-captain

However, after winning only four games over the next four seasons, he was fired on November 26, 2007, having compiled a 6–45 record.

Despite the dismal record of Duke teams under Roof, his aggressive defenses consistently ranked in the top-30 nationally in tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

Coach Roof's enthusiasm makes him successful.

He has a passion for football.

He lives, eats and sleeps football, and that rubs off on everyone around him (but no current playing field).

Football is his first priority, but it goes deeper than that.

He asks us our thoughts on the game plan, and then asks about our classes and families.

It's a big thing when a coach cares about you and Coach Roof is so genuine.

He really brought us together as a team.

The 2008 pre-season saw Roof in strong demand.

While he had initially been hired on January 6, 2008, by the University of Louisville to work alongside Ron English and Ken Delgado on the defense, it was reported on February 21, 2008, that Roof would succeed Everett Withers as the defensive coordinator at the University of Minnesota.

Noted for his highly aggressive defenses, Roof has also been the defensive coordinator at the University of Minnesota and at Auburn University, winning the 2011 BCS National Championship Game with the latter.

Under just one season of Roof's tutelage, the Gophers made tremendous improvements to give up 160 fewer passing yards per game and over 135 fewer total yards when compared to the previous year's 119th ranked defense.