It’s been a good Monday for VMI Football coach Danny Rocco, who found out today that he’s a finalist for the 2023 Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award, and, icing on the cake, signed a one-year contract extension.
Rocco, in his first year as the head coach at VMI, took the program from a 1-10 finish in 2022 to a five-win season in 2023 that included a 4-4 mark in the Southern Conference.
Three of VMI’s conference losses came to programs that made the FCS playoffs – Mercer, Furman and Chattanooga, whom the Keydets nearly upset (in a 24-23 loss), while he scored a number of big victories, including re-capturing the Silver Shako with a win at The Citadel.
VMI upset a Top 25 team to cap off Rocco’s impressive Year 1, as the Keydets defeated No. 14 Western Carolina 27-24 to end the season this past Saturday.
The five wins on the season marks just the fourth time in the last 20 years that a VMI Football team has recorded five or more victories and recorded at least four conference wins.
The contract extension will keep Rocco at VMI through the 2028 season.
The coach of the year finalist honor is the seventh for Rocco in his career, at four schools – Liberty, Richmond, Delaware and now VMI.
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Chris Graham
