VMI Head Coach Danny Rocco is set to join James Franklin’s first staff at Virginia Tech according to Football Scoop, with his som David already joining Franklin in Blacksburg.
Danny Rocco has an extensive coaching history spanning nearly four decades and has been the head coach at VMI since 2022. Other head coaching stops include Liberty, Richmond, and Delaware totaling 128 wins as a head coach through his career. Before his three head coaching gigs he bounced around the mid-Atlantic coaching at Virginia, Maryland, and started his career at Wake Forest as a graduate assistant.
Along his stops, the 65-year-old coach worked with James Franklin at Penn State in 2022 in a senior analyst role before taking the head coach role at VMI. He’ll likely take a similar off-field role according to reports.
His son David Rocco will also be on staff as an assistant tight end role making the move from Penn State to Virginia Tech to follow Franklin. He’s another coach who has been a part of Penn State’s ability to recruit and develop some of the top tight ends in college football, most notably first-round pick Tyler Warren who is a Virginia native. Prior to his tenure at Penn State, he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Western Illinois, a FCS program.
The Hokies are currently scheduled to host the VMI Keydets to open the 2026 season.
