By Ed Morrone

For Tom Pecora, home sure is where the heart is.

On Tuesday, the Hofstra men’s basketball coach was given a new five-year contract that extends through the 2010-2011 season. With the contract extension undoubtedly comes a substantial pay raise, but it wasn’t the money that kept Pecora in Hempstead. If it was about the dollars, Pecora probably would have bolted for the bright lights and big paychecks of the Big East, where he had become a frontrunner for the Seton Hall job.

Rather, it was the combination of the close proximity to his roots in Queens Village and the fact that Hofstra is in fact building something special here. After witnessing George Mason’s improbable run to the Final Four, it’s clear anything can happen in the Colonial Athletic Association, and Pecora doesn’t want to miss it.

“One of the main reasons [for staying] is the quality of life,” Pecora said at a press conference attended by media, administrators, Pride players, coaches and fans. “In my business, people get blind with ambition, but I think you have to understand that for someone like myself, quality of life is very important. This is a really, really special place. People don’t know how good of a job this is.”

Pecora’s sheer enjoyment of coaching at Hofstra was enough to keep him here, and University President Stuart Rabinowitz and Pride men’s basketball coach Tom Pecora said his family was an important factor in where he would coach next season. So as Hofstra athletic director Jack Hayes announced that the head coach’s contract would be extended through the 2010-11season, his 13 basketball sons exhaled, knowing the family is still together.

“I told them just before we met that one of the reasons whyI’m staying here is because of them,” Pecora said at a news conference at Hofstra Arena. “What a pleasure it is to coach young guys like this. I have a lot of friends in this business, and not all of them have a team like we have. The kind of young men that we have, that want to be coached, that want to grow up and that want to be held responsible.”

Junior guard Carlos Rivera has been with Pecora for three seasons and realizes the coach has made significant improvements and changes for the Pride to prosper as a team.

“He’s a great person,” Rivera said. “He has helped us so much this year. You can see a difference from when I first started three years ago.”

Rivera and junior guard Loren Stokes both said Pecora is a good man to talk to and is always there for them. “He’s there for me when I need him,” Stokes said.

“When I came here I knew it would be a good fit. He’s just a goodguy and is there when you need someone to talk to.”

For many players Pecora is a father figure and certainly a leader on and off the court. Hayes said he’s glad the players can get over the hump of not knowing the fate of their head coach.

“For them to be here today was very important,” Hayes said. “I think there can always be anxiety that your head coach is going to leave and I’m glad we’re able to wrap this up and get it off their minds.”

Hofstra’s assistant coaches certainly would have taken a blow to their leadership scale if Pecora departed. Assistant coach Tom Parrotta may have been next in line for the job, but is happy with the results.

“He was able to turn [the program] around and get it going in the right direction,” Parrotta said. “He’s been an unbelievable ambassador and has been a great coach, a great friend and one of the best guys you’d ever want to work with.”

As recruiting season comes to a full swing, many new Pride players will be welcomed into a family that Pecora will be around for a long time.

NOTES & QUOTES:According to reports from Newsday, Parrotta was said to have been a candidate for the head coaching job at Canisius. Parrotta, heading into his sixth season with Hofstra, said it’s a similar situation to what Pecora just went through.

“My first love is here,” he said. “We’re from here, we’re happy here, the place is great.”

Jack Hayes said he was not contacted by any schools regarding Parrotta, but wants coaches to take the opportunity to look at positions of interest.

Athletic director Jack Hayes realized it quickly and wasted no time locking him up. The three men met on Monday to discuss the situation, and that was all it took.

“We’ve won 47 games in two years,” Hayes said. “Clearly our success on the court played a significant role in the process. We really looked at Tom’s commitment to Hofstra and what he’s done for this basketball program. As the weeks progressed, we knew it was something we had to finalize as soon as possible.”

Hayes and Rabinowitz had to move fast as soon as Seton Hall fired Louis Orr. Pecora’s name came up immediately, and it didn’t take long for Pirates athletic director Joe Quinlan to call and seek permission from Hayes to talk to Pecora about his coaching vacancy. Pecora said he and Quinlan had a brief phone conversation, but nothing came of it, and the coach accepted the only offer presented to him.

“I told Joe I was flattered,” Pecora said. “I grew up watching the Big East and it’s been a lifetime dream of mine to coach in that league. However, I’m under contract here, so I owe it to my president and athletic director to sit down and talk with them first.”

They sat, they talked, and the rest, as they say, is history. Pecora chose not follow his mentor, Jay Wright, to the Big East with a promise of more money and publicity. Rather, he decided to stay at Hofstra, a team that has qualified for two consecutive NIT appearances and will return its three best players next season to compete in a league that is no longer America’s best kept secret.

Still, there was some anxiousness that Pecora might jump ship, even if it was just the smallest, most miniscule amount. “It was a little scary,” junior guard Carlos Rivera admitted.

“I’ve played for him for three years and I was worried he might not be here for my last year. We’ve been through so much together, so it was scary. But it’s just great that he stayed.”

Seton Hall, which some say would have offered Pecora a package totaling about $700,000 per year, had the money for sure. However, what the Pirates didn’t have was the two things that kept Pecora here family and a program he has built and grown tolove.

“People say to me, ‘how can you not chase a job that’s going to give you more money and publicity?'” Pecora said. “But the people who know me the best know that’s not what I’m all about. I’m thrilled to be here.” “He’s a family guy,” Hofstra assistant David Duke added. “He’s from here, all of his childhood friends are here, and like he said, it’s a great place.

So why run away so quickly?” Don’t ask Pecora that, because the only place he’s running is right back home.