June 18, 2009
Auburn, Ala. -
Each week AuburnTigers.com will give fans a chance to get to know a member of the football coaching staff with a quick Q&A. One coach will be highlighted each week, beginning with defensive coordinator Ted Roof.....
Q: What was your favorite family activity?
TR: "It would either be all of us playing golf, it didn't ever matter where, or being at the beach."
Q: Are you a big golf enthusiast?
TR: "I used to be, but when you become a dad of twin little-leaguers and you're also a football coach, it's hard to justify spending four or five hours on the golf course. But there's nothing that I would rather be doing than spending time with my boys or with my family."
Q: Which family member were you closest too growing up? What life lesson(s) did they teach you?
TR: "I was close to both my mother and my father. I was blessed to have great parents and then my brother passed away about five years ago. All the things that families - mom and dad's - teach their kids, I was blessed to receive. You always say, as a kid, that the older you get, the more you become like your mom or dad. Ultimately, when we leave this planet or go into the ground, they're not going to show your win-loss record on your tombstone, they will tell what kind of father, husband or man you were. You never lose track of the impact that you want to have on people lives and the lessons that you would like to pass on."
Q: Did you have any summer jobs that were particularly unpleasant?
TR: "Oh yeah. I started out working in a factory in seventh grade catching off the back of a band saw in a cardboard factory. With the hot temperatures in those plants and having the cardboard dust coming back all day every day, it was a good lesson. As a young person, I don't think that kids have a concept of how much a dollar really is. To start off working for less than minimum wage and being accountable for some of the things that I was buying, it was a great lesson of how hard you had to work to stay employed and how far a dollar really went after Uncle Sam took his cut. That was instilled on me early that when you are expected to do a good job, you get in a good day's work. I also worked construction, which in the Georgia summers, is a job that certainly makes you realize the importance of a good education. I was also a Coca-Cola delivery man, which was probably one of the better jobs that I had. All of my jobs, early in life, made me appreciate people that work hard for a living and wake up early every day to go and bust their hump to make ends meet for their families."
|
|
 |
Q: Do you remember the first record that you bought?
TR: "Actually, I think that the first record that I ever had, I won in a radio contest. I was in the third grade and there was a call-in. It was a Hall and Oates album and it was something like the 33rd caller while my brother and I were sitting around. We probably spent about twice as much in gas just to go down and pick it up, but it was pretty cool because we won something on the radio."
Q: While in college at Georgia Tech, did you have any roommates with strange habits?
TR: "Yeah, but probably like most college students, when you leave college, those stories get buried and stay there."
Q: What's the most unusual thing you've ever eaten?
TR: "I really don't know what it was, but when I was coaching at Duke, we played Clemson in Tokyo, Japan. While we were over there, we went to some banquet and I don't recall the name of it, but it was some kind of Japanese meal. I tried it, but it was definitely interesting."
Q: Is there a hidden talent or skill you have?
TR: "I used to play the harmonica, but when I would practice my dog would start howling. The people who I lived around didn't like me practicing too much because of the dogs howling, but I haven't done that in a while. I had a book and I could play probably seven or eight (songs), some pretty good, but when I lived in an apartment and dogs were howling, I had to give it up."
Q: What was the last book you read?
TR: "It was a book by John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach at UCLA. I read a lot of John Maxwell stuff and I would definitely recommend a lot of his stuff. I think that, as a leader, you always need to look at ways to do it and ways to present things based on things that have happened in the past and people who have taken on certain experiences. You can always use stories to teach."
Q: In getting to know the other coaches on staff, the thing that surprised you most about one of them was......
TR: "I don't know if I was really surprised by anything. It's a very good group. We all work well together and we all respect each other because we are all working towards the same goal. I consider myself very fortunate to be here at Auburn and to be a part or this staff. We are all committed to doing the best job that we can do to make Auburn great. That's part of the responsibility that falls on us as coaches and that is something that I do not take lightly."
