Sources: Boston College Football Hires Former UCF Staffer as Defensive Coordinator

The Eagles have filled their last coaching vacancy with a veteran college football coach.

Matt Zenitz (mzenitz) via X

Boston College football has its next defensive coordinator. 

The program is hiring former UCF defensive coordinator Ted Roof to serve in the same position.

CBS Sports national college football senior reporter Matt Zenitz broke the news on social media on Tuesday morning and Boston College Eagles On SI confirmed the news with sources.

“Boston College is expected to hire veteran coach Ted Roof as its new defensive coordinator, sources tell @CBSSports,” said Zenitz via X. “Roof was previously Bill O’Brien’s defensive coordinator at Penn State in 2012.”

Boston College is expected to hire veteran coach Ted Roof as its new defensive coordinator, sources tell @CBSSports.

Roof was previously Bill O’Brien’s defensive coordinator at Penn State in 2012. pic.twitter.com/wAYHdXp0s4

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 30, 2025

Roof is a veteran coach in college football with a coaching history that goes back to the late 80s. 

He has primarily worked as a defensive coordinator with stints at UMass (1995-96), Western Carolina (1997), Georgia Tech (1999-01 and 2013-17), Duke (2003), Minnesota (2008), Auburn (2009-11), UCF (2011), Penn State (2012), App State (2019), Vanderbilt (2020), Oklahoma (2022-23), and UCF (2024). 

Roof has worked alongside O’Brien before, most notably during his time at Penn State. Roof’s one season with the Nittany Lions was the same time O’Brien was the head coach there. 

The pair were also at Georgia Tech and Duke together. 

Roof is the final hire for the coaching vacancies Boston College had open this offseason. 

Shortly after the end of the season, Boston College fired three of its staffers, defensive coordinator Tim Lewis, offensive line coach Matt Applebaum, and wide receivers coach Darrell Wyatt. 

The program hired former UMass offensive line coach Kurt Anderson to serve in the same role and former Hampton staffer Joe Dailey to work as the wide receivers coach.

During the offseason, Boston College also hired BC alum and former Auburn assistant general manager of recruiting Kenyatta Watson to serve as the Eagles’ general manager. 

The moves on the staff have made it a busy offseason for Boston College as it attempts to improve from its 2025 campaign. 

This past season, Boston College went 2-10 overall and 1-7 in ACC play. The Eagles won their season opener against Fordham 66-10 and their season finale against Syracuse 34-12, but had a ten-game skid in between. 

During the stretch, BC lost to Michigan State 42-40 in double overtime, Stanford 30-20, Cal 28-24, Pitt 48-7, Clemson 41-10, UConn 38-23, Louisville 38-24, No. 11 Notre Dame 25-10, SMU 45-13, and No. 22 Georgia Tech 36-34.

Roof is a Georgia Tech alum where he played linebacker from 1982-85. He earned freshman All-America honors and was First-Team All-ACC during his senior season.