By By Ryan McCord
Even with Christmas right around the corner, that March Madness feeling is already in the air thanks to an early season buzz the Pride men’s basketball team has stirred.
The sights are set high for head coach Tom Pecora’s group of young balers, and nothing less than a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championship is expected. It won’t exactly be tea and crumpets, since the freshmen will have to develop in order for the bench to get deeper. Only then will the Blue & Gold have a legitimate shot at the NCAA Tournament.
Over the years, so many mid-major programs have taken center stage and grabbed the title no body will ever get sick of hearing “Cinderella.” Gonzaga University holds the blueprint for every mid-major program, (such as the Pride), to follow in order to acquire a glass slipper that fits. Pecora explains how this small school out of Spokane, Washington has been able to capture the hearts of America.
“Gonzaga always has great guards, but when they were able to start getting big bodies that could compete, throw themselves around and be as physical as you need to be. That’s what really elevated them to the next level. That’s why they’re not considered a mid-major program anymore,” explained Pecora, a former assistant at Loyola Marymount, as well as friend and colleague of Gonzaga head coach Mark Few.
Pecora added that his own big men have lived up to the billing thus far. Most notably, Adrian Uter and Aurimas Kieza, who have been bumping bodies and cleaning the glass, making everything easier for the Pride’s lethal backcourt to control the tempo.
As a head coach, Pecora is still looking for that first NCAA Tournament berth, but he is no stranger to the tournament itself. Not only did he participate as an assistant under predecessor Jay Wright, but he was also a spectator in 1985, the year of perhaps the most famous Final Four of all time.
“The first Final Four I ever went to I was a freshman basketball coach at LI Lutheran High School, and I went because St. John’s was in it,” Pecora recalled. “I sat in the last row in [University of Kentucky’s] Rupp Arena and watched the greatest ‘Cinderella’ ever Rollie Massimino’s Villanova team win the national championship. Little did I know that I would be his assistant six years down the road.”
Fast forward to 2005, where Pecora is thriving in his third straight winning season as a head coach in the CAA. It’s starting to look like everyone is buying into the ground rules that the coach laid out to each of his players when they first stepped foot on this campus.
“There’s a certain amount of responsibility that comes with being a part of the program, and that’s something we talk about all the time,” Pecora said. “You could be in the newspaper because you scored 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, or get recognized just as easily when there’s a fight at Bogarts and you’re involved. I want the players to enjoy the college experience, but you’re not a regular student being involved in this program.”
To say Pecora handles himself with class off the court would be an understatement. In addition to his occasional representation of the University on the popular “Mike and the Mad Dog” sports talk radio show, he is the co-chairman of the annual Coaches versus Cancer on Long Island Golf Tournament and participates in a number of other charities.
“I’m also involved with a project called the Hope Lodge, and it’s similar to the Ronald McDonald House,” Pecora said. “If you were coming into New York from out of town and your child was being treated at Sloan or Cornell for cancer, you could stay at a Hope Lodge for free. We’re hoping to put a Hofstra suite in that Hope Lodge area, and we’re a little more than half way there in the amount of money we need to do that.”
Pecora embraces the opportunities and responsibilities that come with a head coaching title in the Long Island area, pointing out how much it means to him to be able to give back to the community.
While he calls the area “home,” there is no doubt his second home is his office, where he spends countless hours hoping to see the student body call the Hofstra Arena their second home.
“Come out to the games, its fun. Its part of the college experience, and it’s indoors so you’re going to be warm,” Pecora said. “Make it a social event. We got some great things planned. Before every home game in February we will have some kind of student promotion. We will also be given the chance to have the first regular season ESPN game ever on campus.”