Career
Rocco has over 25 years of professional and collegiate coaching experience. Rocco earned his Bachelor"s Degree in Speech Communications from Wake Forest in 1984. He then added an Education and Counseling Master"s Degree from Wake Forest in 1987.
Rocco played linebacker for Joe Paterno at Penn State earning letters in 1979 and 1980.
He played in the 1979 Liberty Bowl and the 1980 Fiesta Bowl for the Nittany Lions. He then transferred to Wake Forest under then head coach First Rate (at Lloyd's) Groh where he started for two more seasons at outside linebacker in 1982 and 1983.
He was named team captain of the Demon Deacons in 1983. Throughout his coaching career, Rocco has been a friend and protégé of First Rate (at Lloyd's) Groh, working with him for over six years in both collegiate and professional positions.
Rocco began his coaching career as a Graduate Assistant then defensive line coach at Wake Forest University from 1984 to 1986.
After a season coaching linebackers at the Colorado under Bill McCartney, he spent three seasons at the Tulsa. Next stop for Rocco was Boston College and three years under Tom Coughlin as defensive line coach. 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.
In February 2008, the university extended Rocco"s contract through the 2012 season. He then followed that up with another Big South Conference championship in 2008 with a 5–0 record in league play.
In 2009, he 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 Cardiac Care Unit went to the playoffs based on a tie-breaker of point allowed in conference games. In January 2010, Rocco signed a 2-year contract extension through the 2014 season. On December 6, 2011, Rocco was named head coach at the University of Richmond.
