Let's say the Duke football team somehow manages to go 7-4 next season. How long do you think it would take Ted Roof to accept another head coaching job? My guess is about a week or two after the final game.

That's one reason Bobby Ross, rather than Roof, would have been a smarter hire for Duke now.

At age 66, Ross was looking for one last coaching challenge. Duke football may qualify as the ultimate coaching challenge, especially when you take into account that the Blue Devils could compete next year in an ACC division that includes Miami, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech.

Even if he had won big by Duke standards, Ross would have stayed for four seasons. He's set financially. He's got a national championship ring. He's taken a team to the Super Bowl. The only reason he wanted the Duke job was to fight one more good fight.

Roof cannot afford to look at the job that way. Nor should he. At age 39 and with two small children, Roof has to approach the Duke job the same way Steve Spurrier did in 1987.

Spurrier loved almost everything about the school. He particularly enjoyed beating bigger, better-equipped programs. He liked the Triangle, delighted in the rivalry against North Carolina and never tired of making the short drive to Pinehurst.

But at no point did Spurrier ever let the high of the Duke experience blind his view of reality. When a better job came along, he left for Florida. He would have been crazy to have stayed.

Just ask Fred Goldsmith, who was courted strongly by Miami and Louisiana State but stayed after going 8-4 in his first season at Duke. That was 1994. A year later, Duke went 3-8, then 0-11. By the end of the 1998 season, Goldsmith was out.

Coaches cannot see Duke football as a long-term employment opportunity. If Roof has some success, other schools will quickly take note and correctly assume that anyone who wins at Duke probably would win even more often somewhere else.

Ross offered more than immediately stability. He also would have provided Duke with a blueprint for success to be followed long after his retirement. That process would have started with the selection of a superior staff of assistants.

Ross' knack for hiring good coaches is legendary in the profession. During his early years at Maryland, Ross once joked, "I may not be a great coach, but I think I know how to hire folks who are." One of those folks was Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen, who still credits Ross for much of his success.

Ross would have built a staff that could have thrived for 10 to 12 years if treated fairly by the administration.

And really, a foundation is what Duke football needs as much as a good man at the top. It's not that Roof lacks the tools and imagination to be a good head coach. In five games, he showed remarkable talent as a leader and motivator. His popularity among the players cannot be questioned. Any other hire no doubt would have created hostility in the ranks.

But now that Roof has the job, he has to make the difficult decisions. Does he fire most of the staff or remain loyal to the assistants who obviously played key roles in Duke's sudden improvement? If changes are made, does Roof have the contacts and judgment to guarantee that the staff will be upgraded?

Those sorts of questions would have been irrelevant with Ross. Duke, inside two months, would have had one of the top coaching staffs in college football. By Ross' second season, the Blue Devils would have been better prepared on Saturdays than 90 percent of their opponents.

By no means was Roof a bad hire. His potential is excellent, but he remains a gamble. He has never been through an entire season as a head coach. He's never been exposed to the off-the-field demands on an ACC head coach. He's never had to worry as much about the offense as the defense. And if he does beat the long odds and win at Duke, he cannot afford to stick around. He'll have to leave and take his staff along.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.