Pete Thamel: Ted Roof to be Vanderbilt’s defensive coordinator

Yahoo’s Pete Thamel reported via Twitter on Saturday that according to sources, Ted Roof — most recently the defensive coordinator at Appalachian State — will be Vanderbilt’s defensive coordinator in 2020. Roof would replace Jason Tarver, who was let go last week after two seasons at Vanderbilt.

Roof has been at this for a long time. He’s probably best remembered for being Duke’s head coach from 2003-07, during which time the Blue Devils went 6-45, but he has had a long and successful career as a defensive coordinator. He served as NC State’s co-coordinator in 2018, and immediately before that spent five years as the defensive coordinator at his alma mater, Georgia Tech — his second stint with the Yellow Jackets after previously being the DC from 1999-2001. His career has also included stints as the defensive coordinator at Penn State, Auburn, Minnesota, Western Carolina, and UMass. He was the defensive coordinator for Auburn’s national championship team in 2010.

In other words, this is about as good a hire as Vanderbilt could have made under the circumstances, and let’s just say that a coordinator as accomplished as Roof probably didn’t take the job to be micromanaged by Derek Mason. There’s very little not to like about this development.