Richmond --> Delaware. How Odd.

[IdaGriz01]

This possibility came up on another thread, with many doubts expressed. But it has happened: Danny Rocco has made the lateral move (within the CAA) from Richmond to Delaware. Here are some quotes from one article that could offer some reasons.

... Rocco told the Richmond Times Dispatch that Richmond "has been real good for me. But I do think it's time for me to move on."

Delaware, he added, was attractive because it provided better potential, even though Richmond has been superior on the field of late, winning three straight and six of the last eight games against the Blue Hens.

Richmond is a private school with less than 3,000 students that plays football in 8,700-seat Robins Stadium, which opened in 2010. Delaware has 18,000-plus undergrads and 22,000-seat Delaware Stadium, which opened in 1952, is slated for significant architectural enhancements once the money is raised. Delaware has also often been considered a prime candidate for a move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision.

“The landscape of college football is changing rapidly,” Rocco said. “And some of the adjustments that you’re recognizing are significant adjustments. I think the support at Richmond is there. I don’t think there’s any doubt that the school is supporting football . . . I don’t know that Richmond will be able to match those [landscape] changes,”

Based on earlier discussions, there's almost certainly more to this story than just "better potential" at Delaware. Richmond fans are understandably upset that their administration let Rocco get away ... and even more so that he went to a CAA rival.

 

[PlayerRep]

Makes sense to me. Must be tough to recruit enough good players to a 3,000 student private school. Del. has had a nice tradition. Plus, newly elected DE governor is a former college football player and will presumably be supportive. Gov. elect Carney played cornerback at Dartmouth. His nephew is the all-american o-lineman at Pitt, who scored 2 TD's this season (on the throwback screen pass, and the "end" around). The dad of the o-lineman played rb at Dartmouth when I was there. Not sure how a 5'11", 190 lb, 4.9 40, rb produced a 6'6-3/4", 305 lb, 4.8 o-lineman. The o-lineman's older brother was a 6', 175 lb, soccer player for Northwestern.

 

[bgbigdog]

Guy @ Western Illinois jumped ship as the University was spiraling down for greener pastures @ South Dakota. Still wondering how I could suppose that USDU could be a better spot, but clearly coaches do take into account the landscape & the impacts it will have on a program flourishing or floundering.

 

[BozAngelesGriz]

the last good coach from Richmond moved up to UVA, so i doubt they will have trouble filling the position. but recruiting might be difficult at UD unless he can really tap into the greater Philly area. looks like a lot of the current roster for UR is from the greater Richmond area or northern Virginia, and by contrast most of Delaware's players come from Delaware, PA and Maryland. they have to compete with the likes of Penn State and i don't think Delaware has that kind of recruiting clout anymore.