Duke AD says Roof will be interviewed

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - Ted Roof has shown enough promise in his two games as Duke&#39;s interim football coach to earn an interview after the season for the full-time job, athletic director Joe Alleva said Monday.<br> <br> Roof, who took over for the fired Carl Franks on Oct. 19, will be one of five candidates up for the job when interviews begin late this month or the first week of December, Alleva said.<br> <br> Under Roof, Duke (2-7) lost to North Carolina State 28-21 two weeks ago and trailed No. 18 Tennessee 9-6 on the road heading into the fourth quarter over the weekend before losing 23-6.<br> <br> ``Coach Roof has done a terrific job,&#39;&#39; Alleva said. ``He&#39;s brought terrific enthusiasm. I&#39;m really proud of the job he&#39;s done. Ted Roof will be a candidate for the job.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Alleva said he hasn&#39;t chosen the other finalists.<br> <br> ``Not yet, but we&#39;re getting close,&#39;&#39; he said. ``I&#39;m looking for someone who can motivate, recruit and teach.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> The Duke AD said he&#39;s gotten more than 50 calls about the job from either coaches or their agents.<br> <br> ``It&#39;s a great job,&#39;&#39; Alleva said of the program that&#39;s riding a 30-game ACC losing streak. ``Our academics are a selling point, not a negative. We&#39;re in a great football conference. If you can&#39;t go into a house and sell Duke University you&#39;re not much of a coach.<br> <br> ``We&#39;ve got everything in place to have a good football program,&#39;&#39; Alleva added. ``Believe it or not I don&#39;t have to sell coaches on that. They are calling me.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Age, or having an offensive or defensive background, won&#39;t be factors in hiring a coach, Alleva said.<br> <br> He also said money shouldn&#39;t be an obstacle. Franks was the lowest paid coach in the ACC.<br> <br> ``We haven&#39;t gotten to that point yet, talking about money, but we can&#39;t afford Steve Spurrier,&#39;&#39; Alleva said. ``I guess for some coaches money can be a factor, but we&#39;re going to try to get the best coach we can and not let money be a factor.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Alleva refused to single out any other candidates, but said former Washington coach Rick Neuheisel and former Georgia Tech coach George O&#39;Leary won&#39;t be interviewed.<br> <br> Roof, also the team&#39;s defensive coordinator, said he wasn&#39;t concerned about Alleva&#39;s comments with three games left.<br> <br> ``I&#39;ve learned over the years you really can&#39;t worry about stuff you have no control over or you&#39;ll drive yourself absolutely bananas,&#39;&#39; Roof said. ``So I&#39;m not going to spend a lot of time with what-if scenarios.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> The players have overwhelmingly supported Roof.<br> <br> ``We just need to win some ball games and that would be the biggest boost for coach Roof,&#39;&#39; said offensive lineman Luke Bayer. ``It&#39;s evident to everyone that at times we weren&#39;t even having fun out there.<br> <br> ``Everyone is just so much more enthusiastic about everything we do,&#39;&#39; added Bayer. ``I&#39;ve never seen practices as spirited as they are now.&#39;&#39;

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/11/169861