Danny Rocco

Daniel Christopher Rocco (born July 16, 1960) is an American football coach. He is a senior offensive analyst for the Virginia Tech Hokies. Rocco served as the head football coach at Liberty University from 2006 to 2011, the University of Richmond from 2012 to 2015, the University of Delaware from 2017 to 2021, and the Virginia Military Institute from 2023 to 2025. 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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

Head coaching record