The Case for Ted Roof

[iceeater1969]

Wish the black watch defense would show up and frequently give us field position on shorter drives. Not sure that is possible do to the allowance of holding by ol against the DL. Still hope that with some blitz pressure our DL will get better angles so refs will make the call. During the last drive by FSU when we needed a stop the larger linemen literally grab our defensive end and threw him out of the play. Roof and pelton are doing much better than the previous dc.

Last year roof was good at making half time adjustments which always included tighter db coverage combined with 5 man rush. I think unc was roofs swag moment - after that he started calling the aggressive and riskier plays letting the players know he expected they better make the play or the next guy would be in the rotation. If Jabari has a big impact ( push and violent hands) we will see the defense step up big time and actually dominate verses mitigate and delay. I hope he unleashes it against ND!

Also he rotated more players - at one point in MSU game we had 2 true freshman db in the game - this is great for recruiting.

from the direction we were headed ( Middle Tennessee State scores again! ) we are on a great path thanks to roof .

 

[OldJacketFan]

Just a feeling or some inside knowledge? I would love this!!

Just a feeling, I think he want to reward the players but he's going to go to that point until it's earned

 

[Yaller Jacket]

One other thing -- Roof is at Tech and Atlanta by choice. He is not looking to go to a more prestigious program or make a lot more money. We can build continuity with him anchored as DC and CPJ anchored as head coach/OC.

 

[Rocket City Jacket]

Just a quick story about Roof. I was at Tech when Roof was playing and I lived in a dorm that was new and a lot of the football players lived there also. Across the hall lived one of the running backs that was on the second or third team and rarely got to play in the games, but he was a lot of fun to talk to and I could keep up with what was going on with the team. I remember asking if he ever got to go up against Roof, and I swear you could see his expression and demeanor change when I asked him that question. He was usually always laughing and joking around but with deadpan seriousness he said, "Roof don't play, he'll take you head off". You could see he was genuinely afraid of getting hit by him. This guy was a pure physical specimen and I couldn't imagine him being afraid of anyone, but Roof had obviously put it to him on the field.

 

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

I was not a fan of the Roof hire, but I can now admit I was wrong. I think he has made a lot of improvements on the defensive side of the ball. I think we have the players on D this year to make the season really good. I just want to see us improve up front so that we do not have to bring 6 to get pressure on the QB.

The big thing for me is that our guys improve year over year. In the past I have felt like only a select few players really improved year over year. Players do not seem to stagnate under Roof.

It is exciting to speculate that if we improve in 2015 as much as 2014 was improved over 2013 what we might be capable of. What I like about our defense under Roof is (a) they improve game to game; and (b) the total eleven is much greater than the sum of the individual talents. I fully expect Hunt-Days to be a plus, Kallon will contribute, and if we find a couple of LB's we actually could dominate some teams on our schedule.

 

[Boomergump]

I was not a fan of the Roof hire, but I can now admit I was wrong. I think he has made a lot of improvements on the defensive side of the ball. I think we have the players on D this year to make the season really good. I just want to see us improve up front so that we do not have to bring 6 to get pressure on the QB.

The big thing for me is that our guys improve year over year. In the past I have felt like only a select few players really improved year over year. Players do not seem to stagnate under Roof.

936, you are not alone. I remember my initial reaction when the hire was announced. It was pretty much luke warm. I had always liked Roof, especially as a player, but I also had these memories of the defenses during O'leary's tenure. I had not really followed Ted's career after he left us. I know he had been HC at Duke for a number of years and DC at Auburn, but didn't really look at the numbers to form any substantial opinion. Basically, I took the wait and see kind of position on the matter. Professionals, motivated professionals that is, tend to grow over the course of their careers. Obviously Roof has done just that. He was thrown into the fire a little by O'Leary. It was early in his career. That, combined with the Duke experience, has paid a lot of dividends for CTR, I'm sure. In retrospect, I am really really glad we made the move to bring in Ted. In my eyes, it looks like things are headed in the right direction.

 

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

Just a quick story about Roof. I was at Tech when Roof was playing and I lived in a dorm that was new and a lot of the football players lived there also. Across the hall lived one of the running backs that was on the second or third team and rarely got to play in the games, but he was a lot of fun to talk to and I could keep up with what was going on with the team. I remember asking if he ever got to go up against Roof, and I swear you could see his expression and demeanor change when I asked him that question. He was usually always laughing and joking around but with deadpan seriousness he said, "Roof don't play, he'll take you head off". You could see he was genuinely afraid of getting hit by him. This guy was a pure physical specimen and I couldn't imagine him being afraid of anyone, but Roof had obviously put it to him on the field.

Ted Brasky

 

[AE 87]

OK, there was an error in my post from the other thread (cut and paste error in a spread sheet)

No. I'm not reacting this way because of being stung in the past. I'm reacting this way because we were historically bad on D last year, beyond imo talent issues. For the year, we were #111 in pts/dr allowed, #114 in 3rd down conv allowed, #111 in yds/play allowed.

We were good with turnovers, 3 each from nc state, cu and georgie with 2 each from uva and miss st to end the year, but I'm not sure we schemed to set up georgie for two fumbles on the one.

We didn't get any turnovers from FSU, and they averaged more than 4 pts/drive. For the year, they averaged 2.67.

FSU was able to get their best receiver on Smith all night. Their star tight end got free almost at will. I don't know if that's because CPJ insisted on going vanilla or if Roof didn't make adjustments.

So, yeah, it's great that we get turnovers, but that's not the measure of a good DC, imo.

In the ACC vs ACC, we were #13 in ypp allowed, #14 in passing ypg, #13 in comp%, #13 ypp, #12 passer rating allowed.

Using per game stats and our domination of bad offense from uva and cu doesn't change the reality of a lot of questions on D.

We were actually #100 not #111 in Pts/Drive allowed, 2.47 ppd for the year.

By my calculations, our ppd defense per year since 2008 have been: 1.69, 2.21, 2.14, 2.26, 2.35, 1.92, 2.47.

In midseason, I was a big advocate of the notion that our D signals had been ripped.
We were Jeckle and Hyde in 2013 (see Syr and Miami) but just which ever of those is bad in 2014. I still hope that's the case.

I think 2015 has the potential of being huge. We have decent players with experience under Roof at every level. A lot of guys on D have logged good game minutes. I don't think we have any excuses for not being a top 30 team in points per drive allowed for the season.

 

[IronJacket7]

I'd love to see CTR be CPJ's successor after many years and NC Trophies here at GT.

 

[GTech63]

I posted my reaction in the 1990 uva thread. I agree about the attitude and turnover focus coming from CTR.

I think we have reason to be optimistic but haven't really seen enough in D scheme/ results to be confident.

I'm not sure we're tackling that much better or having fewer blown coverages than past Ds. Just my opinion.

I think our tackling has improved a lot. We still have a blown coverage's or two each game. Still have problem on third and >5.
I expect these areas to improve 2015

 

[GlennW]

Anyone who thinks Ted Roof CAN'T coach defense need only look to see what he was able to do when Auburn beat Oregon for the National Championship and he was the Defensive Coordinator, and what he did as Penn State's D-Coordinator that short while. Also, just look at what he's typically done with OUR Defenses the second half of most games now that he's gotten his players on the field and they've become more comfortable running his plays (reacting rather than thinking so much).

Like was said earlier, the other HUGE benefit of Roof has been the recruiting plus he's brought to the table. Just look at how much it's improved since he's gotten on campus...

 

[Architorture23]

I am happy that he is a "Tech Man" but I will say that attribute is far down my list of what I want in a coach.

I like Ted Roof because he seems like a good coach and I like the focus he places on playing hard and not quitting. I think he inherited a lack of talent at some key positions so it will be up to him to remedy that. Roof landed Vic Alexander, Tyler Cooksey, Trent Sellers, Anree Saint-Amour, and David Curry last year.

I am not the biggest fan of his scheme, but if it works, I don't complain. At the end of the game, it is points on the board that matter so while it might not always be pretty, I'm looking for results.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

4. Last year's defense was not great, as has been mentioned, whether statistically or emotionally, by many. However, when you consider the mess we had up front, in terms of manpower, the end results were far better than could ever be anticipated.

This.
I was thrilled with the defense last year because what I envisioned before the season was so much worse. I still marvel at how much CTR got out of that group and the fact that they did not give up but kept working their tails off to get better. I give CTR an A last year for the job he did.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

the total eleven is much greater than the sum of the individual talents.

YES.

 

[AE 87]

This is an interesting thread. I was a fan of the hire (was also at Tech the same years as Ted and loved his play then).

Here's what I said before 2013 season:

I. Johnson has the measurables, covers decently and hits hard. Pursuit angles, wrapping-up, and a seeming tendency to take plays off seem to be his downside to me. I would be surprised if he goes undrafted (pro-scouts still seem to emphasize the measurables).

As I look at that list of our seniors on D, I'm struck by how bad we've been. We've had flashes of greatness from all of them and then long periods where they've all just disappeared, either by scheme, injury or both.

I am really hopeful for this season. Roof's Auburn years are clearly an anomaly that must be chalked up to Chizik and meltdown at the school. For as bad as Roof's numbers were in 2011, Van Gorder's were much worse in 2012, and Van Gorder didn't have to partner with Mahlzahn on the other side of the ball.

Well, I'm a believer in Ted, but there are some oddities of performance surrounding his career. Rumors of the over involvement of Head Coaches everywhere he's been longer than 1 year and the 1 year stays as DC at Duke, MN, PSU may speak against him. On the other hand, the willingness of coaches that have worked with him--George O'leary, Bill O'Brian, John Butler--to want to work with him again as well as the marked improvements at most stops may speak in his favor. I think Aubie was just a train wreck in terms of team chemistry and HC incompetence, so I give Roof a pass for his last couple seasons.

As far as where GT's D stands now, I think we're doing pretty good. Reference to just the 3-4 D as part of our problem misses the significance of the fact that Groh's 3-4 relied primarily on 2-gap technique, the linemen controlling both sides of the OL with which they are engaged. Most 3-4 D's, like U[sic]Ga play 1-gap. Also, I think our biggest problems the past two years have been 3rd Down and depth maintenance. We didn't do a very good job keeping our starters fresh, and we couldn't really afford to have some of our key starters get hurt. But, our biggest problem, imo, was 3rd down, where we allowed way too many conversions. The five FBS teams we played before Groh's firing averaged a 30% INCREASE in 3rd downs conversion % over than their season average. Our next 7 opponents, through the ACC CG, averaged 12% DECREASE in conversion % (15% Decrease if you include USC). That's an average of over 40% improvement in 3rd Down D over the opponent's average performance. To my mind, that's pretty significant and suggests that talent wasn't our biggest issue.

I think we have the talent to implement Roof's scheme and expect us to be VERY good this year (although the enduring injury of Green concerns me).

Now, it could be that Roof's scheme relies too much on DL that we didn't have; I don't know.

We have had some very good recruiting classes, so I'm looking forward to 2015 being the start of a Tech Dynasty on D.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Not that my opinion matters much on this but in the interest of full disclosure I was never a CTR fan. When I heard Tech was hiring him again I was very disappointed. Trying to adjust to the idea, I started looking at his record at Penn State and began to think maybe I should give him another chance. I have been very pleased with how he has turned around several long time nagging problems with Tech's defense, particularly not playing with intensity, being hesitant, poor tackling and being out of position. Those seem to my eye to have markedly improved under CTR. If he can continue to get the players to buy in and keep the team spirit going I fully expect to see continued improvement.

 

[okiemon]

He is not looking to go to a more prestigious program or make a lot more money.

I'm not so sure of that. If someone offers him a huge increase, I wouldn't be surprised to see him leave. That doesn't mean he's not happy here, or that he's looking to leave, but I'll bet even CTR has his price.

 

[bob4gt]

I live in Auburn and my wife has season tickets to their games. Not many AU people were impressed with Roof as DC. I loved Ted as a player, but had doubts about him at AU, although Chizic did interfere some. His second half was always better than the first, so it seems he made adjustments. I am no football expert, but it seemed his adjustment was to go from passive zone in the first half to aggressive man in the second. My son always faulted him for not starting the game aggresively. He did have some good players.
I have been happy with what he has done at Tech and am glad we hired him.
Bob

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

As anyone knows that has followed my history on Tech message boards, I am a huge Ted Roof fan and wanted him as our head coach when Gailey was fired. I'm just glad he finally made it home in any capacity. He is a fierce competitor and a great Tech man.

Go Jackets!

 

[awbuzz]

CTR has "grown" on those that didn't like the hire, that's a good sign. Hopefully more will come too appreciate what he brings to the T table.