Rocco settling in as Richmond's new football coach

Danny Rocco, who is preparing for his first season as head coach of the Richmond Spiders football team, said that there have been a lot of changes since he arrived at Richmond.

"There are a number of things that we have adjusted, and the first changes were with the personnel," he said. "We are moving players to different positions to maximize their abilities, we are teaching the system, and we are training the personnel. That is the most significant thing on the front end."

Rocco, who took over the position from Latrell Scott in December, said that he has coached for a number of teams over the years.

He began his career at Penn State University and from there, went to Wake Forest University, the University of Colorado, the University of Tulsa, Boston College, the University of Texas, the University of Maryland, the New York Jets, the University of Virginia and Liberty University before arriving at the University of Richmond.

"Every place has been uniquely different," he said. "Moving to Richmond has been a very exciting thing for me and has been everything I had hoped it would be. It offers education at the highest level and does not compromise excellence with athletics."

Rocco said right from the beginning, the team of 64 men had given him a great impression of the university. "They were very positive, very energetic, engaging, sincere and legitimately enthusiastic about my arrival," he said. "It is great to have such a feeling of being welcome."

Junior Kendall Gaskins, who said he has had four different coaches in the four years that he has been at Richmond, will be playing his final season under Rocco, and said that the transition from Scott to Rocco has gone smoothly.

"He has a different feel," Gaskins said. "He preaches good things. He is always on top of us about classes and tells us to focus on academics and football. His door is always open, and he is here for us if we need anything."

Gaskins said what he and the team wanted most out of this season under Rocco's lead was to be back on top.

"Obviously we want to win and we're going to do what we have to do to win," he said. "We want to get Richmond back to being the dominant team and, to do that, we have to get back to how we used to play."

Contact reporter Charlotte Brackett at charlotte.brackett@richmond.edu