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UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 14, 2016

Newark, Delaware

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, all. Thank you for coming today, sunny day. We have Chrissi Rawak and our new football coach Danny Rocco. Chrissi, if you'll start off with an opening statement and open to questions, and Coach Rocco will have an opening statement and open it to questions.

CHRISSI RAWAK: Hi, everyone. I feel like I need a little audience participation here. It's a great day for Delaware, and I can't tell you how happy I am sitting here next to this guy. I want to take a moment to thank some folks that have been instrumental in this process. Obviously President Assanis, John Cochran, the Board of Trustees were amazingly supportive in this process, some terrific colleagues in Alan Brangman and Laure Ergin. Want to thank our search firm, Jed Hughes, Andrew Montag and Kyle Bowlsby. They were wonderful, wonderful partners for us. Coach Dot and the staff, football staff. They took on a tremendous challenge, and they were committed every day to get the most out of these players, and there were some challenging times, but I give them a lot of credit.

Some folks that I am incredibly grateful for, and to our football community. And what I mean by that is first of all our fans. They trusted me and they were patient, which I appreciated. I know it was a little tough at times. Our football alumni, I have to tell you they have been incredible. Ones in particular, Fred Rullo was tremendous, Larry Catuzzi, Joe Purzycki, Paul Brown, Bo Dennis, Dan Reeder, and my wingmen, Scott Brunner and Rich Gannon, I could not have done this without them. And finally to our football student-athletes, and I've said this before but I'll say it again. I appreciate them. I appreciate them so much. They stayed in it with me, and it wasn't always easy, and I want them to know, and I'll be sharing that with them downstairs is that I never took their trust for granted, and I won't moving forward. But I worked really hard. You all heard me, I wasn't going to sleep. You can tell by the bags underneath my eyes that I wasn't going to sleep until I got the right coach for this program.

And it was a process. It was a very intentional, very deliberate, very thoughtful process that began a couple months ago, and as I shared, my focus was finding the very, very best football coach for this program. So what does that mean? What does that mean? So that means a proven winner, somebody that wins the right way. That means somebody that not just says they understand and value the student-athlete experience but demonstrates that in all of the decisions and the choices that they make. That means a team player, a partner for me, a partner for our other coaches that embodies and embraces the values and the traditions of this university and of this program.

We had unbelievable interest, unbelievable interest. And you know, not surprising. It just reinforced how special this place is and how special this program is. But I can tell you as we went through each step in this process, it became so clear to us that Danny Rocco was the right man for Delaware, not just the right man for this job, the right man for Delaware.

And I could spend, I don't know, hours reading your resumÃ©. It's two pages long, for those of you that haven't seen it. But in all seriousness, Danny has turned two programs around, has never had a losing season as a head coach. He's won six conference championships, has been named coach of the year in his conference four times. His players excel in the classroom and they've been all Americans on the field. He's worked in the NFL. He's worked in the FBS. He's worked in the FCS, and at his dinner table growing up, every conversation was around coaching. It's in his DNA. It's a part of who this man is. But honestly, at the end of the day what really sold us was that this is a man of principle. This is a man of integrity that leads people. And I can't tell you how excited, how honored and how tremendously proud I am to have him here as our 22nd head football coach of the University of Delaware.

COACH ROCCO: Thank you very much, Chrissi. I appreciate that. And it really is an honor and a privilege for me to be the 22nd head football coach here at the University of Delaware, a place rich of history and tradition. And as I came to this stadium in 2013 to play the Delaware football team, I walked the stadium, I walked the campus, I walked the grounds, and I saw those six National Championship banners out there in the stadium. And those things are very meaningful, very powerful. Chrissi said here in our introduction how excited that she is that I am here, but I think I am the one that is really excited and enthusiastic about this opportunity and this privilege to be your head football coach.

A couple of acknowledgements I'd like to make and some recognition. Dr. Assanis has really done an unbelievable job in communicating a message and a motivational understanding of the student-athlete experience. He is fully committed to the student experience at the University of Delaware being the best experience it can possibly be. And he understands the role in athletics in all of that. He understands the importance of the football program and what it does within our community and how it helps us bring people back and unite the alumni and the fanbase. So those were really powerful messages I heard from him. And I really liked and valued his enthusiasm for this university and for this position here of head football coach.

Chrissi was relentless. I recognized it from the beginning. The thing that I think I appreciated the most was her ability to listen and hear, and she was able to always respond to the things that I thought were important. And she heard those messages, and she was able to respond to those messages and offer the vision that I wanted to hear. And I think for all the things I would say here about our athletic director, she has courage, because what she did took an awful lot of courage, because there were no guarantees. I think there is a misconception out there that this thing was a done deal like a long time ago, and that's the furthest thing from the truth. We came to resolution Monday night at 6:04 at my house. And it took a lot of courage on her part to continue to believe that she heard the right things from me, to continue to believe that I was in fact the right guy and to continue to believe that I wanted Delaware. And so I could not be more excited and more thrilled about this opportunity here today.

My wife Julie is here with me today, and Julie and I have been married 28 years. We spent the first 12 years of our marriage in eight states, moving from job to job. We spent the last 16 years living in the state of Virginia. We spent five years at UVA under Al Groh where we were -- I was the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, and then we were in Lynchburg, Virginia, six years as the head coach at Liberty; and then the last five years at the University of Richmond. So we're really excited to be moving to Delaware, really excited to be residing here in Delaware and connecting as soon as we can to the community.

Later today my mom and dad will be here, and I just want to offer my love and appreciation for their support over the years. As most of you know, I grew up in a football family. My dad was my high school coach. My brother, Frank, who's one year older than I, we went to high school camps since we were five, six years old, and we were managers, ball boys. We did anything and everything until we had a chance to put the helmet on and play football. And my dad mentored to so many people. He was such an amazing role model.

As he moved there Conestoga Valley to Great Valley to Easton High School to Allentown Allen, to Lewistown, Pennsylvania, Penn Highlands High School to Fox Chapel in Pittsburgh, and then to Altoona High School in Pennsylvania, then on to Penn State where he spent 18 years at Penn State University under Coach Paterno. So I just owe so much to my dad in terms of his mentorship and his continued support.

I think the biggest thing for me here today is the simple question of why Delaware. And I have got a really strong appreciation for those that have come before me. Tubby Raymond and his amazing career, David Nelson and the amazing things that these coaches have accomplished throughout the history of this program. And I am really committed to putting our program back on a national platform. And in doing so I recognize that it's going to have to be a team effort, a collective effort. I think everybody within the Delaware family has got to rally and unite. And we need it from our students, our alumni, the community. And I want to be able to do anything and everything in my power to represent our athletic program and represent our university with class and dignity as we work towards our goals.

I have an action plan in place. I have a three-phase action plan. Phase one starts tomorrow and it'll really start focusing in on the recruiting cycle. It'll focus in on the staff evaluations and interviews. I will interview and communicate with every single coach that was on staff here last year, and I'll continue to communicate with other coaches, some of which are on my staff at the University of Richmond. So putting my staff together, getting off to a fast start here in recruiting, and then meeting the personnel here on campus and connecting with the community are the things I want to be able to do here before the Christmas break.

Again, I'm honored, I'm humbled and I'm enthusiastic about our future here at Delaware. At this time I'll take any questions from the media.

Q. You talked a lot about the great history here, but it sounds like what really made you enthusiastic about coming here was the potential for success in the future. What is it about what you see in this program now makes you feel that there's great potential moving forward?
COACH ROCCO: Well, I'd say there's a number of things. I think that being in this league for the last five years, I have a great appreciation for this league. I've had opportunity to compete against all the teams in this league and evaluate all of them on film. I think that we have a real solid roster here moving forward. When we played this year, I studied the roster like I did every team on our schedule, and I recognized some youth. I recognized a smaller senior class. And I think there's some real optimism in that.

I think the vision and the enthusiasm and energy that's being offered right now from our athletic director and our university president, I think those things are very, very significant. I think those allow me to feel real confident that that commitment will remain strong moving forward, to be able to meet the needs that we have as we assess our needs to try to reach our goals.

Q. When you finally made up your mind at 6:04 Monday --
COACH ROCCO: She says it was 6:04, but I thought it was 6:00.

CHRISSI RAWAK: I was watching the clock. It was 6:04.

Q. Obviously it was tough to leave Richmond. What finally swung you towards Delaware?
COACH ROCCO: You know, you're right. It was hard. I was treated very well at Richmond. I was embraced by the community and the fans and the alumni. I was supported by our administration and our athletic director. And to me it's really all about the players and student-athletes. That was one of the more special time lines in my life, personally and professionally.

We were able to really put that program back on track and up towards the top, and it took a lot of hard work and commitment. I think that I feel more like this is home for me. And it's kind of maybe a little hard to understand why I feel that way, but three hours from my mom and dad in State College. We got family in Philadelphia. I kind of grew up in this part of the country. I grew up with an unbelievable admiration for Delaware football. I mean you know, when you grow up in the 70s and you're in high school, I mean it's like it's the real deal, you know. So those things never really leave you. And I think those things were factors that allowed me to say I need to make a transition. And I am very highly motivated by challenges. I enjoy the opportunity to embark on new challenges. I am a problem solver. I work to identify and solve problems. And I really was looking for another challenge. And maybe in some ways I may have taken the last program as far as maybe I thought I could take it. So with all that being said, I just know we're excited to be here today and looking forward for the future of Delaware football.

Q. Coach, what are some of those challenges you will face here before you really have a chance to kind of delve into things?
COACH ROCCO: One of the things you'll never hear me talk about is anything negative from anything that's prior, because I have great respect for Coach Brock, and I'm not going to spend any time there. I think what you have to be able to do, though, is start to work on changing the culture and expectation. Right now it is what it is, and we've got to be able to start to address that in an attempt to make this the best Delaware it can be.

I believe that -- I'm a big believer in substance. I like to recruit substance. I like to develop character. I think when things get tough and tight, those are the things that allow you to win in tight moments. And I want to continue to build those things here within our culture and within our program. So I think it starts with the idea of, you know, you've gotta believe it before you can achieve it, and it's a mindset. And we've gotta offer that positive mindset, that mentality, that belief, that conviction, and then you work, and you work every day.

I talk a lot about win today. It's been a theme of mine for years, and I actually originally got it when I was at Colorado working for Bill McCartney, and talked about how "today I gave all that I've got. What I've kept I've lost forever." That's what we tapped on the locker room door when we ran on to the field at Colorado. So this whole idea of winning the day, and winning the day for a college student-athlete is very challenging. It's very challenging. It's not just the weight room. It's not just the coach in the meeting room. It's not just the football practice. It's classwork, it's homework, it's study hall. It's time management. So to win the day, or win today, okay, there's an awful lot that goes into that. And I think the more players you have on your team and in your locker room that embrace that mentality, the more quickly you can advance your program.

Q. You've won the last two places you've been. That's even more impressive because where you took the programs from. Liberty had a worse record. Richmond when you took over and you were able to put that in your first year. So what can you draw from those first years at Liberty and Richmond that you might be able to apply in this turnaround?
COACH ROCCO: I think it's a great question, and I think that I have to recognize that they're all different. And I am committed to constant and continual improvement. I preach it all the time to my staff, to my student-athletes, and if you're not growing, you're dying. And if you're not accepting new challenges, you're not growing. So I know that when we went to Liberty, we took over a program that had never had success. They were 1 and 10. They were off a ten-game losing streak. My instincts told me that they would meet me all the way to me. And when I got there, they were so starved for leadership, and they were starved for a vision, and they were hungry to win, that they just got in line and followed. It's like herding the sheep. And it was a great experience for me, but they all around like that. When I went to the University of Richmond, they were coming off an 0 and 8 season in the CAA, 3 and 8 overall. But there were seniors on that team that were recruited to the National Championship team. So that was something that was a different dynamic, and I had to approach that one a little bit different, and I had to really build and develop trust.

After the press conference I had at Richmond when I accepted the job in 2011, going into 2012 season, I had five players follow me into the office, and I met and shook their hands, and they said, Coach Rocco, we're excited you're here. We just want you to know that you're our fifth head football coach in five years. So I immediately knew I was going to have trust issues and that they weren't necessarily just going to follow me because I was blowing the big whistle. So that was more about building trust and building relationships.

I had an opportunity with Chrissi downstairs, I had a chance to meet 12 or 15 student-athletes in the locker room, and that's what I'm here for. I'm here for the student-athletes. And that's what motivates me. And I feel like I will continue to work and educate myself on what I need to do and how I need to move forward so that we can in fact be successful here next season and then build from there.

Q. Chrissi said you've turned two programs around. Is there maybe less turning around to do here, do you think, or is that something you won't really know until you kind of get in there with the kids and get your coaching staff together and things like that?
COACH ROCCO: I don't know right now whether there's more or less. I do think that Delaware was a lot closer this year than maybe their record would show. I am one of those guys that listens to everybody and everything that I hear. I listen to all the teleconferences when we have them for the CAA. I listen to every coach talk about every game and every team. Okay. And I learn. And I've been listening and I've been following, and I've been hearing things that I think are real and could generate some real optimism. So I am very hopeful that we will be successful soon. And that's a big reason that I am here today.

Q. Did Coach Raymond recruit you in high school?
COACH ROCCO: No, he didn't. I still hold a grudge (laughs).

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