VTs next football opponent is already down their HC and he's coming to Blacksburg.
Would think this is a Jerry Kill role at the least.
https://www.footballscoop.com/2025/12/15/sources-danny-rocco--stepping-d...
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Talk about big dogging someone lmao. HC to analyst.
VMI athletics is on its last leg IMO. They are really struggling as a DI school in the modern NIL era, and having no such funding and trying to sell athletes on the military academy aspect and strict rules is a hard task. Honestly I think they should probably bump down to D3 and join the ODAC frankly. Would be a much better fit.
Seems to me more like a "I want to retire but dont want to get bored, where can I go that's nice to live and let's me do just a little bit of football on the side to keep me from going insane" kind of move for this guy
And he'll get to work with his son! It's a win-win for him.
Wait who's his son?
David Rocco, was PSU asst TE coach
I also just discovered his nephew is Michael Rocco, former UVA qb
Who?
Oh, now I recognize him!
Are any of these folks related to Dr. Rocco from the Jerky Boys? My favorite prank call from those guys BTW.
To be fair, you never saw his name on his jersey, as he was always on his back when playing us.
So uva football and JMU/Radford girls are essentially the same.
Do you mean "Radford girls"?
Hollins?
I have evidence in support of all three of these.
Girls girl the same
Edited for clarity, but I had not heard that Hollins has the same rap as JMU/Radford so I won't be besmirching them with a comparison to uva football
Yes but when girls go down its a good thing, and when uva sports teams go down its a good thing
Ok yeah we have to cancel that game next year, right?
Like, you don't steal their head coach for an analyst role and then bring them in to get slaughtered, that's cruel.
The 9 game ACC change probably already had this game on the chopping block.
I wasn't alive when this was a real rivalry, but my time in the Corps has me kinda hoping we keep the game and hang a hundred on em.
It would make more sense to drop JMU from the schedule.
I see that the new schedule fully starts in 2027...but what's the deal for 2026?
With the new ACC revenue sharing model why would we drop the JMU game that would certainly get better TV coverage? VMI will be lucky to be on ACCN.
Or you schedule the game on the weekend of the game in Ireland when there are only a couple total games so you get an almost guaranteed prime time slot. This year there was only one game on August 23rd and it was in the morning because it was in Ireland. Put this game as a 5pm kick so you get the pageantry in the sun but recruits also see Lane at night.
My understanding is you can only play Week 0 if you are scheduled to play at Hawaii or another country at some point in the season.
We just need to schedule a home and home with Hawaii then. I am sure my wife would be up for that away game in November.
It looks like there are four allowances for playing in Week Zero:
-Play at Hawaii during the season.
-Overseas games.
-Nationally televised FCS games.
-If the NCAA grants a waiver for reasons.
FSU had a week 0 game in 2002 against Duquesne, taking advantage of the FCS rule, and apparently ACCN counts as nationally televised.
Go with the more winnable game that gives us a better record? That can lead to later season games getting better exposure.
But who knows anymore, it's all like playing whack a mole nowadays.
If we play VMI do we get to put a paper-mache Kangaroo in front of Skipper like Col. Roszak said we did in the 60s-70s?
Only if we fill it up the same way.
Our guys knew that the VMI cadets were looking for that kangaroo before we had a chance to blow it up. So they made a second one, and filled it up. Knowing the history of our university, you can probably guess what fine material they used in it.
Of course, our cadets aren't really trying to guard it that well. They want VMI to find it. When they do, one goes high and rips the head off, one goes low, and another charges the middle....and as the fourth one starts coming in, he smells it and stops just in time.
And then we bring out the other kangaroo and blow it up.
Apparently during the game, you could spot the cadets who found that kangaroo because there was quite a large radius of empty seats around them in the stadium.
So I've heard this story a bunch from my dad. At the last few Corps Homecomings, I even heard it from some of the guys who procured the innards of the kangaroo.
But then there's an epilogue that happened just a couple of years ago....
My dad is shopping at a Wal-Mart in the Richmond area, and he sees a guy about his age with a VMI hat. He strikes up a conversation, and that kangaroo story comes up. For the first time in 50 years, my dad finally hears the story from someone on the VMI side -- and it turns out that it's that fourth VMI cadet, the one that just avoided diving into the mess.
I will be very very surprised if we play VMI next year. I have to believe that finding a quality replacement for the VMI game as the Franklin era opener is a high priority.
Ehh entirely new team gelling. Pageantry of two Corps of Cadets. Military flyover almost guaranteed. Blowout highlights with all the 2026 recruits on campus.
I should qualify my comment. I don't believe we should open next year with VMI just due to the profile. If we are going to play at that level then YES let it be VMI, just not the opener.
My comment was directed at the level of competition, not the school. Much respect for VMI.
Even for the level of competition, if this was any other year besides a massive rebuild where players probably could use time playing together before the competition ramps up, I might agree with you. I'd rather have an easy opponent to work out any of the kinks we might have. If we destroy them, all the better, but the players we had on the roster last year weren't destroying anybody.
We still have an offseason where our portal activity might be mind-boggling. I'm very curious to see what our roster looks like next year and how many starters we had this year actually return.
My guess is 7 of the 22.
I think we're more likely to see the ACC move a conference game into week one to make a splash.
Also, I never trust any of the non-conference game dates until either our full schedule has been announced, the other team's conference announces their schedule (because the ACC is always last), or it's a special game (usually neutral site).
Is the Labor Day game still an ACC contracted game? I could see them putting us in that slot. Maybe against GT again?
As far as I'm aware, it is.
The only neutral site game involving the ACC that I see so far is Ole Miss/Louisville in Nashville, but that's penciled in as Sat/Sun.
I hope we play them and let the era begin with a win. Headlines would suck seeing everyone trash VT after all this hype and then he lays an egg.
As a VMI alum who played football I hope the VMI-VT game doesn't happen. I wrecked my knees playing against an ACC team whose kicker (smallest guy on their team) was bigger than I was (as an offensive guard).
Jim Pry was our offensive coordinator and Brent was crushing the competition as the Lex High quarterback.
And I hope that we pay VMI well to back out of the game!
Your point is well-taken.
Still, as a complete rebuild year, VT probably needs a pretty easy tune-up game to pull it together.
I'm hoping you're right that VT will have it together, but VT certainly struggled this year.
Edit: I just looked at VMI's record. Oooof. Yeah, maybe you're right. Worse than I realized. VT could probably find another opponent.
Rocco career record pre-VMI:
121-65
65% win
Three seasons at VMI:
7-28:
20% win
Career now:
128-93
57% win
Was he at Richmond before?
Liberty (2006-2011), Richmond (2012-2016) and Delaware (2017-2021)
Rocco...Rocco....where have I heard that name before....sounds like a Wahoo to me
Just did a google slooth and sure enough, his nephew is Michael Rocco, former UVA QB
How many UVA ties can you get on one VT coaching staff before i start to get concerned xD
Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. The amount of Hoos on staff makes more sense that way
A kid made the mistake of saying that about teaching at a Hokie tailgate I was at one time. There were maybe six teachers within earshot. We had to hustle the kid away and read him the riot act before one of them actually pulled the riot act on his ass. He got taught a lesson for certain that afternoon, I can assure you.
"....and those who can't teach, teach gym!"
Which is kind of like a Hoo coach, I guess.
Wow - perfect pull... Well done!
....sounds like some bullshit to me, to me!
Ohhhhh, U of V A!
As a former MV, take your leg haha
🎶 If i had the wings of an eagleeee🎵
And the ass of a great buffalooooo...
I'd fly over UVA's campus
...And shit on the Wahoos below!
Love it when a plan comes together!
Wahoo Wah! Sounds like some bullshit to me.
Give them the Wah-poos
Odd feeling as the son of VMI '81 and VT '21 myself...
This is a good hire. I think everyone knows at this point the VMI job is impossible. Rocco has won everywhere else he's been and was an analyst at PSU in 2022 when they went 11-2 and won the Rose Bowl. He's responsible for one of James Franklin's 4-5 "big game" wins ever (that's my narrative, anyway).