Danny Rocco

{{Short description|American football player and coach (born 1960)}}

{{Infobox college coach

| name = Danny Rocco

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| current_title = Head coach

| current_team = VMI

| current_conference = SoCon

| current_record = 6–17

| contract =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1960|7|16}}

| birth_place = Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| alma_mater =

| player_years1 = 1979–1980

| player_team1 = Penn State

| player_years2 = 1981–1983

| player_team2 = Wake Forest

| player_positions = Linebacker

| coach_years1 = 1984–1985

| coach_team1 = Wake Forest (GA)

| coach_years2 = 1986

| coach_team2 = Wake Forest (DL)

| coach_years3 = 1987

| coach_team3 = Colorado (MLB)

| coach_years4 = 1988–1990

| coach_team4 = Tulsa (OLB)

| coach_years5 = 1991–1993

| coach_team5 = Boston College (DL)

| coach_years6 = 1994–1996

| coach_team6 = Texas (OLB)

| coach_years7 = 1997

| coach_team7 = Texas (ST/DE)

| coach_years8 = 1998–1999

| coach_team8 = Maryland (OLB)

| coach_years9 = 2000

| coach_team9 = New York Jets (ST)

| coach_years10 = 2001–2005

| coach_team10 = Virginia (LB)

| coach_years11 = 2006–2011

| coach_team11 = Liberty

| coach_years12 = 2012–2016

| coach_team12 = Richmond

| coach_years13 = 2017–2021

| coach_team13 = Delaware

| coach_years14 = 2022

| coach_team14 = Penn State (analyst)

| coach_years15 = 2023–present

| coach_team15 = VMI

| overall_record = 127–82

| bowl_record =

| tournament_record = 7–5 (NCAA D-I playoffs)

| championships = 4 Big South (2007–2010)
3 CAA (2012, 2015, 2020)

| awards = 3× Big South Coach of the Year (2006–2008)
2× CAA Coach of the Year (2015, 2020)

| coaching_records =

}}

Daniel Christopher Rocco (born July 16, 1960)1995 University of Texas Football Media Guide p. 94 is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the Virginia Military Institute, a position he has held since the 2023 season. Rocco served as the head football coach at Liberty University from 2006 to 2011, the University of Richmond from 2012 to 2015, and the University of Delaware from 2017 to 2021. He was assistant coach for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL) in 2000. Rocco played college football as a linebacker, first at Pennsylvania State University before transferring to Wake Forest University.

Playing career and education

Rocco played linebacker for Joe Paterno at Pennsylvania State University, earning letters in 1979 and 1980. He played in the 1979 Liberty Bowl and the 1980 Fiesta Bowl for the Nittany Lions. Rocco transferred to Wake Forest University, where he started for two seasons at outside linebacker under head coach Al Groh, in 1982 and 1983. He was named captain of the 1983 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team.

Rocco earned his bachelor's degree in speech communication from Wake Forest University in 1984. He added an education and counseling master's degree from Wake Forest in 1987.

Coaching career

Throughout his coaching career, Rocco has been a friend and protégé of Al Groh, working with him for over six years in both collegiate and professional positions.

Rocco began his coaching career as a graduate assistant then defensive line coach at Wake Forest, from 1984 to 1986. After a season coaching linebackers at the University of Colorado at Boulder under Bill McCartney, he spent three seasons at the University of Tulsa. Next stop for Rocco was Boston College for three years under Tom Coughlin as defensive line coach.{{cite web|url=http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm?PID=10867&CoachID=120&TeamID=9|title=Coaching staff – Danny Rocco|access-date=November 22, 2007}}

=Liberty=

Rocco was named the head coach of the Flames on December 2, 2005, succeeding Ken Karcher. He began his first stint as a head coach at any level taking over a program that went 1–10 the season before he arrived in 2005.

In his first season as head coach at Liberty in 2006, he led the Flames to a 6–5 record and was honored by the Big South Conference as their Coach of the Year. He then followed that up in 2007 by leading the Flames to an 8–3 record and the school's first Big South Conference championship and his second consecutive Coach of the Year honors.

In February 2008, the university extended Rocco's contract through the 2012 season.{{cite web|url=http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=LNA%2FMGArticle%2FLNA_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354620136&path=!sports |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080306234531/http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=LNA/MGArticle/LNA_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354620136&path=!sports |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 6, 2008 |title=Lynchburg NewsAdvance Article on Contract Extension |access-date=February 15, 2008 }} He then followed that up with another Big South championship in 2008 with a 5–0 record in league play. He was named Big South Coach of the Year for the third straight season.

In 2009, Rocco stretched the Flames' Big South winning streak to a conference-record 15 games before falling in the season finale at Stony Brook. Liberty shared the conference championship with the Seawolves. In 2010, a loss at Coastal Carolina led to a three-way share of the league title with the Chanticleers and Stony Brook. But CCU went to the playoffs based on a tie-breaker of points allowed in conference games.

In January 2010, Rocco signed a two-year contract extension through the 2014 season.{{cite web|url=http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm?PID=10869&newsID=4850&TeamID=|title=LU Official News Release on Extension|access-date=January 21, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226002818/http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm?PID=10869&newsID=4850&TeamID=|archive-date=February 26, 2012|url-status=dead}}

On December 6, 2011, Rocco was named head coach at the University of Richmond.{{cite web|url=http://www.richmondspiders.com//ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=26800&ATCLID=205343063|title=Danny Rocco Named 35th Head Football Coach At Richmond|access-date=December 6, 2011}}

On December 13, 2016, Rocco was named head coach at the University of Delaware. Rocco coached Delaware to a 31-23 record over five seasons. He was fired after a disappointing 2021 campaign that saw his team finish 5–6.{{Cite web|last=Tresolini|first=Kevin|title=Danny Rocco fired as University of Delaware football coach|url=https://www.delawareonline.com/story/sports/2021/11/29/danny-rocco-fired-university-delaware-football-coach/8794158002/|access-date=2021-11-29|website=The News Journal|language=en-US}}

After spending the 2022 season as an analyst for James Franklin and Penn State, Rocco was named the new head coach at VMI, replacing Scott Wachenheim.{{cite news |last1=Brice |first1=John |title=Sources: Former Delaware head coach, Penn State assistant Danny Rocco taking over VMI |url=https://footballscoop.com/news/sources-former-delaware-head-coach-penn-state-assistant-danny-rocco-taking-over-vmi |work=footballscoop.com |publisher=Football Scoop |date=December 3, 2022 |access-date=December 3, 2022 }}

Head coaching record

{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = both | poll1 = Coaches | poll2 = TSN/STATS }}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Liberty Flames

| conf = Big South Conference

| startyear = 2006

| endyear = 2011

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 2006

| name = Liberty

| overall = 6–5

| conference = 2–2

| confstanding = T–2nd

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| year = 2007

| name = Liberty

| overall = 8–3

| conference = 4–0

| confstanding = 1st

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| year = 2008

| name = Liberty

| overall = 10–2

| conference = 5–0

| confstanding = 1st

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| ranking = 15

| ranking2 = 14

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| year = 2009

| name = Liberty

| overall = 8–3

| conference = 5–1

| confstanding = T–1st

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| ranking = 21

| ranking2 = 22

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| year = 2010

| name = Liberty

| overall = 8–3

| conference = 5–1

| confstanding = T–1st

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| ranking = 15

| ranking2 = 17

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 2011

| name = Liberty

| overall = 7–4

| conference = 5–1

| confstanding = 2nd

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| ranking = 25

| ranking2 = 25

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Liberty

| overall = 47–20

| confrecord = 26–5

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Richmond Spiders

| conf = Colonial Athletic Association

| startyear = 2012

| endyear = 2016

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| year = 2012

| name = Richmond

| overall = 8–3

| conference = 6–2

| confstanding = T–1st

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| ranking = 18

| ranking2 = 18

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 2013

| name = Richmond

| overall = 6–6

| conference = 4–4

| confstanding = T–5th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 2014

| name = Richmond

| overall = 9–5

| conference = 5–3

| confstanding = 4th

| bowlname = NCAA Division I Second Round

| bowloutcome = L

| ranking = 16

| ranking2 = 16

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| year = 2015

| name = Richmond

| overall = 10–4

| conference = 6–2

| confstanding = T–1st

| bowlname = NCAA Division I Semifinal

| bowloutcome = L

| ranking = 3

| ranking2 = 4

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 2016

| name = Richmond

| overall = 10–4

| conference = 5–3

| confstanding = T–4th

| bowlname = NCAA Division I Quarterfinal

| bowloutcome = L

| ranking = 8

| ranking2 = 8

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Richmond

| overall = 43–22

| confrecord = 26–14

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens

| conf = Colonial Athletic Association

| startyear = 2017

| endyear = 2021

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 2017

| name = Delaware

| overall = 7–4

| conference = 5–3

| confstanding = T–4th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 2018

| name = Delaware

| overall = 7–5

| conference = 5–3

| confstanding = T–3rd

| bowlname = NCAA Division I First Round

| bowloutcome = L

| ranking = 23

| ranking2 = 24

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 2019

| name = Delaware

| overall = 5–7

| conference = 3–5

| confstanding = T–9th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| year = 2020–21

| name = Delaware

| overall = 7–1

| conference = 4–0

| confstanding = 1st {{small|(North)}}

| bowlname = NCAA Division I Semifinal

| bowloutcome = L

| ranking = 4

| ranking2 = 4

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 2021

| name = Delaware

| overall = 5–6

| conference = 3–5

| confstanding = T–9th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Delaware

| overall = 31–23

| confrecord = 20–16

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = VMI Keydets

| conf = Southern Conference

| startyear = 2023

| endyear =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 2023

| name = VMI

| overall = 5–6

| conference = 4–4

| confstanding = T–5th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 2024

| name = VMI

| overall = 1–11

| conference = 1–7

| confstanding = 9th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| ranking =

| ranking2 =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = VMI

| overall = 6–17

| confrecord = 5–11

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record End

| overall = 127–82

| bowls = no

| poll = no

| polltype =

}}

References

External links

[https://vmikeydets.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/danny-rocco/1253 VMI profile]
[https://bluehens.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/danny-rocco/773 Delaware profile]

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Category:1960 births

Category:Living people

Category:American football linebackers

Category:Boston College Eagles football coaches

Category:Colorado Buffaloes football coaches

Category:Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football coaches

Category:Liberty Flames football coaches

Category:Maryland Terrapins football coaches

Category:New York Jets coaches

Category:Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches