Daniel Christopher Rocco (born July 16, 1960)''1995

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Football Media Guide'' p. 94 is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach. He is currently the head coach of the

VMI Keydets The VMI Keydets are the athletic teams that represent the Virginia Military Institute. All sports participate in the NCAA Division I, and all but three compete in the Southern Conference (the exceptions being men's and women's swimming and diving ...

. Rocco has previously been the head coach of the

Liberty Flames The Liberty Flames and Lady Flames are the athletics teams of Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. They are a member of the NCAA Division I level in 20 sports. LU is a member of the ASUN Conference for most sports. Two sp ...

Richmond Spiders The Richmond Spiders represent the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. The Spiders compete in the Division I FCS of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference for most sports. The Spider na ...

, and

Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens The Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens are the athletic teams of the University of Delaware of Newark, Delaware, in the United States. The Blue Hens compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of Division I of the National Collegiate Athl ...

. He is also a former assistant coach of the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). Rocco earned his bachelor's degree in speech communication from

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

in 1984. He added an education and counseling master's degree from Wake Forest in 1987.

Playing career

Rocco played

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

, earning letters in 1979 and 1980. He played in the 1979 Liberty Bowl and the 1980 Fiesta Bowl for the

Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interc ...

. Rocco transferred to

, where he started for two seasons at outside linebacker under head coach

Al Groh Albert Michael Groh II (born July 13, 1944) is an American football analyst and former player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Wake Forest University from 1981 to 1986 and at the University of Virginia from 2001 to 2009, compil ...

, in 1982 and 1983. He was named captain of the 1983 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team.

Coaching career

Throughout his coaching career, Rocco has been a friend and protégé of

, working with him for over six years in both collegiate and professional positions. Rocco began his coaching career as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respons ...

then defensive line coach at Wake Forest, from 1984 to 1986. After a season coaching linebackers at the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...

under

Bill McCartney William Paul McCartney (born August 22, 1940) is a former American football player and coach and the founder of the Promise Keepers men's ministry. He was the head coach at the University of Colorado Boulder for thirteen seasons (1982–1994), ...

, he spent three seasons at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...

. Next stop for Rocco was

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

for three years under

Tom Coughlin Thomas Richard Coughlin ( ; born August 31, 1946) is a former American football coach and executive. He was the head coach for the New York Giants from 2004 to 2015. He led the Giants to victory in Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI, both time ...

as defensive line coach.

Liberty

Rocco was named the head coach of the Flames on December 2, 2005, succeeding

Ken Karcher Kenneth Paul Karcher (born July 1, 1963) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at East Central Community College, a position he has held since January 2013. Karcher served in the same capacity at ...

. 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 The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...

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. 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. On December 6, 2011, Rocco was named head coach at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

. On December 13, 2016, Rocco was named head coach at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

. 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. After spending the 2022 season as an analyst for James Franklin and

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

, Rocco was named the new head coach at VMI, replacing

Scott Wachenheim Scott Allen Wachenheim (born August 13, 1962) is an American football coach and, most recently, the head coach of the VMI Keydets football team. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Wachenheim has been an assistant coach at various p ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

Delaware profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocco, Danny 1960 births Living people American football linebackers Boston College Eagles football coaches Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football coaches Liberty Flames football coaches Maryland Terrapins football coaches New York Jets coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football players Richmond Spiders football coaches Texas Longhorns football coaches Tulsa Golden Hurricane football coaches Virginia Cavaliers football coaches VMI Keydets football coaches Wake Forest Demon Deacons football coaches Wake Forest Demon Deacons football players People from Huntingdon, Pennsylvania Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania