Danny Rocco will take over as University of Delaware football coach.
Rocco has led the University of Richmond to playoff appearances and had similar success at Liberty University. He will be formally be introduced as the Blue Hens coach on Wednesday.
“I’m thrilled that Danny Rocco will be the new head coach for the Fightin’ Blue Hens,” said UD President Dennis Assanis. “Like all of us at UD, Danny is committed to excellence in everything he does. He brings significant coaching experience at both the collegiate and professional level. Most importantly, Danny is dedicated to the success of our student-athletes, both on the field and in the classroom. We know he will build a powerful team of players and coaches and take UD Football into a strong and winning future.”
He is a veteran of 33 seasons as a football coach, including the last 11 as a head coach at the NCAA Division I level.
He has never posted a losing season and owns a career record of 90-42 including a 10-4 mark this past fall when Richmond went 5-3 in Colonial Athletic Association and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year.
The No. 12 ranked Spiders defeated No. 17 North Carolina A&T 39-10 in the opening round and rallied to down No. 8 North Dakota 27-24 on the road in the second round before falling at No. 3 Eastern Washington in the quarterfinals this past Saturday.
Rocco emerged as a favorite in recent days. There had been concern that he might be in line for the top post at Temple University, which lost its successful head coach Matt Rule to Baylor.
He succeeds Dave Brock, who was fired at mid-season after failing to turn around the football program, which has floundered since the firing of K.C. Keeler.
Keeler brought a national championship to UD but saw his teams struggle prior to his firing. He was best known for bringing Joe Flacco to UD.
Flacco went on to become a Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens. Flacco has largely parted ways with UD athletics, since Keeler was let go.
Former Blue Hen quarterback and NFL announcer Rich Gannon praised the choice in a Twitter post.
“Excited for Delaware football and our new HC Danny Rocco! Good things are in store for my Blue Hens! Welcome aboard coach!,” Gannon tweeted.
(Includes reporting from BlueHens.com)
