By Dylan Butler
Tom Pecora’s lifelong dream became a reality last week.
Less than 24 hours after Jay Wright left Hofstra to become the new head coach at Villanova University, the Queens Village native was named the Pride’s new head coach at a press conference March 28.
“I consider myself a very lucky person,” he said. “I learned at an early age to have passion for what you do and I do love my job and I also have a tremendous passion for Hofstra and I’m honored to be here.”
After helping build Hofstra into a quality mid-major Division I school for seven years an as assistant under Wright, Pecora, 43, becomes the 11th coach in 63 years of basketball at the Hempstead, L.I. school. Details of his five-year deal were not disclosed.
Pecora, a graduate of Martin Van Buren High School, is known as a brilliant recruiter with strong New York City ties. After spending nine years as an assistant coach at Division I schools University of Nevada-Las Vegas (1992-93), Loyola Marymount University (1993-94) and Hofstra (1994-2001), Pecora finally has his first head coaching job since heading the program at SUNY-Farmingdale from 1987 to 1992.
Before that he was an assistant at Nassau Community College (1987-89) and Long Island Lutheran High School (1984-87) after graduating from Adelphi in 1983.
“I was out West and it was beautiful, but I was a fish out of water,” Pecora said. “I needed to get back to New York and be with my roots. It’s just great for me.”
It has been a roller coaster year for Pecora. After returning in March 2000 from Hofstra’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 23 years, he learned his mother Corrine had been diagnosed with cancer. She died in June.
En route to their second consecutive America East championship and another NCAA appearance, Pecora lost his father Carmine after a long illness in February.
“I was talking to my wife [May Beth] and said if this had happened last year, they would have been here,” Pecora said. “And my wife said it’s amazing what two angels can do.”
After his name was linked with numerous vacant coaching positions, including Rutgers and Villanova, Wright ended weeks of speculation March 26 by filling the void at Villanova left by Steve Lappas who resigned to take the job at the University of Massachusetts. By the time Wright finally accepted the job, Pecora had been used to dealing with rumors surrounding his close friend.
“A few years ago it happened with Fordham [when Nick Macarchuk resigned to take over Stony Brook], last year there were murmurs about [St. John’s head coach Mike] Jarvis leaving and Jay might be a candidate there,” Pecora said. “A day or so ago my wife and I were looking at each other and I said, ‘we’re not even excited about this yet. When it happens, it’s going to happen, but we’ve been down this road before.’”
To find a replacement for Wright, Hofstra decided to buck the recent trend of extensive, nationwide searches. According to the school’s athletic director, Harry Royce, there was no need.
“We didn’t involve other persons because we thought we knew how it would go,” he said. “It just would’ve been an unnecessary step to open this up to some type of interview process. Not when we knew all along what we wanted to do.”
Instead, Royce sat down with Hofstra President James M. Shuart and, after Shuart met with some members of the university’s board of trustees and came back with a unanimous decision, they informed Pecora Tuesday night.
“They knew the ramifications of dragging out a process,” Pecora said. “They wanted to show New York City and Long Island basketball people they weren’t going to flinch and the program is going to continue to grow and I think this is the best way for them to do it.”
Pecora said he spoke to Wright briefly last week.
“I said ‘Pinch yourself, but it’s not a dream — you are at Villanova and I am here,” he said. “It couldn’t have worked out better. Our wives were on the phone last night because they were so happy.”
Pecora met with his team last Wednesday morning and told them the change in coaching from the Wright-led Hofstra teams to his will be minimal.
“Basketball-wise, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” he said. “The great thing about working for Jay, he allowed for not only myself but for all the assistants to have tremendous input. We’ll tweak things a bit, but there’s not going to be great change in the way we play.”
There was a point in Pecora’s life when he thought he would never live his dream. After graduating from Van Buren and spending a short stint at a junior college, Pecora went into the work force. He drove a furniture truck, roofed houses and, like almost all his friends from Queens Village, was going to take the New York City Police Department and Fire Department tests.
“It was a different path but it all worked out,” he said.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
