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Veteran Coach Ted Roof Expected to Be Named App State’s Defensive Coordinator

Ted Roof

By Tim Gardner

According to multiple media reports, Appalachian State University’s next defensive coordinator will have more than 30 years experience on his football coaching resume.

Ted Roof is expected to become the Mountaineers new defensive coordinator. The appointment could be announced by Appalachian State as early as today and maybe no later than the start of next week. Roof will join new Appalachian State head coach Eliah Drinkwitz’ staff after they worked together on football staffs at N.C. State and Auburn.

Roof spent this past season at N.C. State as associate head coach, co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach. Drinkwitz was the offensive coordinator at N.C. State the last three seasons.

Roof will replace Bryan Brown at Appalachian State. Brown is the new defensive coordinator at Louisville, for former Mountaineers head coach Scott Satterfield, who took the Louisville head job earlier this month.

Roof has coached at numerous colleges or universities, including two stints at both Duke and Georgia Tech.

He coached Duke’s linebackers from 1990 to 1993, returning in 2002 as defensive coordinator before becoming interim head coach during the 2003 season. Eventually Duke Officials removed the interim tag, naming Roof head coach, starting with the 2004 season.

He remained in that post through 2007. But Duke compiled a dismal 6-45 record during Roof’s tenure as head coach.

Roof spent four seasons at Georgia Tech as linebackers coach (1998) and defensive coordinator (1999 to 2001). He returned as the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech in 2013, staying five seasons under former head coach Paul Johnson, an Avery County native.

Roof resigned at Georgia Tech following the 2017 season and was replaced by Nate Woody, a former defensive coordinator at Appalachian State. Woody would be succeeded by Brown, who led the Mountaineers to a Top-10 national defense ranking this past season in both points allowed and total yardage allowed.

Roof with have a stellar defense to coordinate at Appalachian State next season as the Mountaineers return eight players from a unit that helped the Mountaineers win the Sun Belt Conference Championship and New Orleans Bowl (45-13 over Middle Tennessee State) enroute to an 11-2 finish in 2018.

Roof began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Alabama, serving there for two seasons (1987 and 1988). He then coached linebackers at West Georgia College in 1989.

Roof was linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) in 1994, before serving as its defensive coordinator in both 1995 and 1996.

He also was defensive coordinator at Western Carolina (1997), Minnesota (2008), Auburn (2009-2011) and Penn State (2012).

While at Auburn, Roof coached in two bowl games, with wins in both the 2010 Outback Bowl and the 2011 BCS National Championship Game (for the 2010 season).

Drinkwitz was an offensive quality control assistant for two of Roof’s three seasons at Auburn. 

Roof took a job as defensive coordinator at Central Florida in late 2011, but resigned only a few weeks later to accept the Penn State post.

He also resigned after only a month on the job as a Louisville defensive assistant in 2008 to take the job at Minnesota.

Defenses Roof has coordinated have often been high in the national rankings in various statistical categories.

Roof is a Georgia Tech graduate, where he played football from 1982-85. He was honored with All-American status and was selected to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team as a defensive back. He remains among the most prolific tacklers in Georgia Tech history, ranking second for most tackles in a single game with 25 versus Tennessee in 1985 and seventh in most all-time tackles at the school with 417.