NC State assistant Ted Roof to join Eli Drinkwitz at Appalachian State
Another N.C. State assistant football coach is headed to Appalachian State.
Ted Roof is going to leave N.C. State to become the defensive coordinator for the Mountaineers.
Roof, co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach, will be with the Wolfpack through the Gator Bowl on Monday and then reunite with Eli Drinkwitz at App State.
Drinkwitz was the Wolfpack’s offensive coordinator for the previous three years then was hired by the Mountaineers on Dec. 15.
Roof, 55, is a respected veteran coach who spent one season in Raleigh. He was hired last January when the NCAA expanded the number of full-time assistant coaches to 10. He worked with co-coordinator Dave Huxtable this season.
N.C. State ranked No. 37 in scoring defense and No. 54 in total defense this season.
Roof had previously worked as an assistant at Georgia Tech, Minnesota, Penn State and Auburn. He was Duke’s head coach from 2003 until 2007.
Roof will be the third assistant to leave Dave Doeren’s staff after the Wolfpack went 9-3 this season.
Offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford was hired by Louisville to be the offensive coordinator for new coach Scott Satterfield. Drinkwitz was hired to replace Satterfield at App State.
Doeren said last week he sees the chance for assistants to leave and become a head coach or coordinator as a positive for the program.
“It’s going to happen when you win,” Doeren said. “You are going to lose coaches, that’s part of it.”
Doeren said he was surprised that he didn’t have any staff changes, other than hiring Roof, after last year’s 9-4 top-25 finish.
“I kind of anticipated possibly losing a coach, or two, this year,” Doeren said. “When you win back-to-back years, people are going to want some of that.”
Doeren has already made some staff adjustments. Kurt Roper was hired on Dec. 17 to be the new quarterbacks coach. Receivers coach George McDonald and running backs coach Des Kitchings were promoted to co-coordinators on offense and will work in that capacity in the bowl games.
The school announced it has hired John Garrison as the offensive line coach on Thursday night. Garrison worked at Florida Atlantic during the 2018 season and had previous stops at UNLV and Nebraska.
Doeren needs to hire a replacement for Roof. Huxtable, who has been with Doeren for all six years at N.C. State, is expected to be back as the primary defensive coordinator next season.
N.C. State faces Texas A&M in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla. on Monday.
This story was originally published December 27, 2018 at 5:44 PM with the headline "NC State assistant Ted Roof to join Eli Drinkwitz at Appalachian State."