Photo by Mark Campbell

Surrounding himself with a group of proven winners who assisted him in leading the University of Richmond to three straight NCAA playoff appearances, University of Delaware football head coach Danny Rocco announced the hiring of nine new members to his Blue Hen staff on Thursday.

In addition to the newcomers from Richmond, Rocco also announced that current Blue Hen staff members Dennis Dottin-Carter and Eddie Allen will be retained and continue to serve on the UD staff.

Jerry Oravitz, longtime associate athletic director for football administration, and David Baylor, player development coach, will also remain on the staff in their current roles.

The new additions to the Blue Hen football family are defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach Chris Cosh; outside linebackers coach Clint Sintim; inside linebackers coach Manny Rojas; offensive line coach Blaine McCorkle; tight ends coach Bill Polin; wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Fontel Mines; football strength and conditioning coach Chris Stewart; associate director of football operations Carl Kotz; and video coordinator Tony Palmieri.

Dottin-Carter, a four-year member of the UD staff who served as interim head coach for the second half of the recently completed 2016 campaign, will continue to serve as defensive line coach. Allen, who came to UD prior to the 2014 season, will continue to lead the special teams unit and will also coach the running backs.

Rocco will name an offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in the coming weeks and will also add three interns who will have responsibilities within the areas of offense, defense, and recruiting to complete the staff.

All nine newcomers were members of Rocco’s Richmond staff in 2016 and each played a big part in leading the Colonial Athletic Association Spiders to three straight NCAA playoff appearances, including a trip to the national semifinals in 2015 and a berth in the quarterfinals this past fall. Each of the last two teams won 10 games and were ranked in the Top 10 nationally in the final Stats Inc. poll.

“I am excited to announce a large portion of our new coaching staff here at the University of Delaware,” said Rocco, who was named UD’s head coach on Dec. 14 after serving has head coach at Richmond the last five seasons. “Having the opportunity to bring so many high quality and experienced coaches with me from Richmond was very important. I also had the opportunity to interview the current coaches here at Delaware and retained Dennis and Eddie, who are great fits to our group. I believe we have put together a football coaching staff that allows us to have a depth of experience and expertise that will serve us well moving forward.”

For complete coverage, see the article on BlueHens.com.