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News Nuggets, 12.07.03
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Remodeling job at Duke starts with Roof

DURHAM — After a five-week audition, Ted Roof was hired as Duke's football coach Saturday. Duke athletic director Joe Alleva said Roof signed a long-term contract.

Roof was hired over three other candidates, including former Detroit Lions coach Bobby Ross. Roof has no previous head coaching experience.

"He proved to me he could be a head coach in his audition," Alleva said. After Carl Franks was fired Oct. 19, Roof was 2-3 as interim coach, breaking the program's 30-game conference losing streak with a victory over Georgia Tech and ending a 13-game skid against rival North Carolina. Two of the losses were close games against Tennessee and North Carolina State.

"I've known what I've wanted to do since I was 17 years old," said Roof, a former Georgia Tech linebacker. "I wanted to be a head football coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference. There has been no other goal."

Since going to their last bowl in 1994, the Blue Devils have compiled a record of 18-83, including three 0-11 seasons.

"We have a great university to sell, not just in the state of North Carolina but all over America," Roof said. "When you think of Duke you think of excellence and respect.

"So, we're going to go after the best athletes in America that can compete on the field for us and in the classroom. We will go from the North Pole to the South Pole to find them and to educate them about Duke."

The players endorsed the 39-year-old coach for the full-time job one week after he took over for Franks. Ultimately, noted Alleva, it wasn't that endorsement that got Roof the job, but something else the players did was a factor.

"What the players said to me had absolutely nothing to do with my decision — zero," Alleva said. "What the players did on the field had something to do with it."

Army, Navy marching in different directions

PHILADELPHIA — Navy is heading to a bowl game. Army is facing an uncertain future.

Kyle Eckel ran for 152 yards and two touchdowns and Eric Roberts scored two TDs, leading Navy to a 34-6 victory Saturday in the 104th meeting between the service academies.

Army became the first team to finish 0-13 in major college history. The Black Knights have lost 15 straight, the nation's longest losing streak, and 24 of their last 25. Army, which has lost four of the last five against Navy, still leads the overall series 49-48-7.

Navy (8-4), coming off a 2-10 season, is heading to the Houston Bowl on Dec. 30 — its first bowl appearance since 1996. Army has a long way to go before it can think about the postseason.

The Black Knights fired coach Todd Berry after an 0-6 start and interim coach John Mumford won't be considered after going 0-7. Published reports this week said Frank Solich, fired by Nebraska last Saturday, turned down the job.

"There's a good team in there in those kids. I couldn't get it out of them," Mumford said. "They need confidence. They need to win. They are a great group of young men. It's been an honor to work with them."

Army kept it close early, but fell apart in the second half. Navy scored 27 straight points, pulling away on TD runs of 12 yards and 16 yards by Eckel in the fourth quarter.

While this game always has significant meaning, it took on added importance this season because of the war in Iraq. It was the first time the game was played at the new Lincoln Financial Field, and it'll be in Philadelphia four times during a five-year span, from 2004-08. Baltimore will be the site of the 2007 game.

"This game is important anyway, but (the war) gives it a little extra," Navy coach Paul Johnson said. "Last night at dinner we had a flag sent to us that flew over the airport in Baghdad. That they thought enough to do that, it tells you the military overseas and everywhere can stop for three, fours hours and it's like being home."

The victory gave Navy the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy, awarded annually to the team with the best record in games between the three service academies, for the first time since 1981.

Schnellenberger creeps up on Tressel

FLAGSTAFF — Jared Allen passed for 228 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters, and Florida Atlantic routed Northern Arizona 48-25 in the NCAA Division I-AA quarterfinals Saturday night.

The Owls' 10th straight win kept coach Howard Schnellenberger on track to join Ohio State's Jim Tressel as coaches who have won national titles at the I-AA and I-A levels. Schnellenberger's 1983 Miami team won that school's first championship.

Florida Atlantic (11-2) will play Colgate, a 28-27 victor over Western Illinois, in a semifinal next Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Owls were ranked ahead of the Lumberjacks (9-4) in the final I-AA poll, but had to play in Flagstaff because of the NCAA's decision that the McNeese State-Northern Arizona winner would have the home field advantage.

The 7,000-foot elevation had no effect on Florida Atlantic, which controlled the tempo and shut down Jason Murrietta, Northern's precocious freshman quarterback.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2003 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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