By Paul Casey Gotham
Nearly a year has passed, but Tom Pecora still gets goose bumps when he recalls the moment. His Fordham Rams had just rallied from 21 points down to defeat St. John’s. He left the locker room intending to make his way to the post-game press conference. There in the hallway an older gentleman in a suit and tie greeted him with a hug and began crying on his shoulder.
When the man regained his composure he thanked Pecora for the win sharing with the first-year coach that he has been a fan of Fordham basketball for fifty years. Wins like that are his dreams.
“That is when it really hit me,” Pecora said last month at the Atlantic 10 media day in Brooklyn, New York. “The tradition of this school and the passion that the alumni base and people of Fordham have.”
“It was a moment for me,” Pecora continued. “It changed things a little bit in the sense of understanding what Fordham is all about.”
That moment was what Pecora had in mind when he left a comfortable position at Hofstra University to take over a team that had just five wins in two seasons. His Pride teams went 155-126 in his nine seasons at the helm. From 2004-o7 Hofstra notched three consecutive 20-win seasons earning three trips to the NIT. In 2005-06 Hofstra went 26-7 and won the school’s first post-season games advancing to the quarter-finals of the NIT.
The Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) took notice naming Pecora their Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2009. The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the Basketball Coaches Association of New York (BCANY) also named Pecora regional coach of the year. Pecora earned Division I Coach of the Year from the MBWA in 2005-06. The NABC named him their District 2 Coach of the Year.
“I had been at Hofstra sixteen years (nine as head coach and seven as an assistant),” Pecora explained. “I could have ridden it out there, but there was this it factor. There was this twinkle about Fordham. I always thought it could be a great job.”
Part of that twinkle came from the school’s home court. Opened in 1925, Rose Hill is the oldest gym still being used by a Division 1 school.
“I want that to be the toughest home court to play in New York,” Pecora stated. “It’s a great place to coach. It’s a great place to watch college basketball. I’ve said this before. Who’s got the smallest gym in the ACC? Duke. And last time I checked they’re still getting pretty good players. I never want to lose that flavor of Rose Hill.”
Pecora caught a glimpse last year of what the future could hold. His squad ended a nearly three-year road losing streak by beating Lehigh early in the season. Then came the victory over the Red Storm.
Losses mounted after that, but the defeats took on a different complexion of those in recent years. What were once blowouts turned into single-digit losses.
“Most games on this level come down to a handful of possessions,” Pecora continued. “That’s what really caught up with us.
The Fordham faithful, though, noticed the change.
“The last three games at home,” Pecora recalled. “Bonnies we had a great crowd. Richmond we had a great crowd and UMass. We hadn’t won an A-10 game in 40 games, and we were still just about selling out the place. That was a great ray of hope for me.”
Pecora realized: “This place is going to rock when we’re good.”
The Rams rewarded the denizens of Rose Hill with a resounding 77-73 triumph over UMass to close the 2010-11 season.
“We were so banged up at the end,” Pecora recollected. “It was one of those nights where we sat in a zone, and they just had a hard time making shots.”
“You get so caught up in, I think someone used the expression earlier ‘coaching your team day-to day.’ But when you take over a program like we did last year, it’s almost hour to hour and minute to minute.”
Pecora and his Rams will give Binghamton a taste of Rose Hill when they open their home slate Friday night. The Rams will get a chance to find out if they can approach the season day to day.
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