Tom Pecora

[Dooku25]

ZMAN, I disagree with some of your points. He didn't leave the cupboard bare? He set the program back 2 years with his departure. He told Chaz and Halil to leave because they were "A-10" players. And he took his incoming class (Frazier, Dominique etc) with him. IMO, he could not have cared less about what shape he left Hofstra in.

And lets not make him out to be Coach K. They were the best team in the CAA in 06. No excuse being down 25 in the championship game against UNCW. I blame Pecora for that loss. He was overconfident about locking up an at large bid after beating Mason for a 2nd time.

I liked TP when he was here, he was a good representative of Hofstra University, and so were his teams. He was a strong recruiter and his teams at Hofstra played with heart all of the time. But we all know he was lacking in the X's and O's department. We can summarize his offense in 1 word: "Move!!!"

I think its unfair to JM to compare him to TP after 2 seasons. JM inherited an absolute mess. He was able to bring "his guys" with him from Niagara yes. But if he can recruit Philly kids to Niagara, I think he should be able to recruit them to Hofstra. The jury is still out on this staff's recruiting. Lets see what Buie and JWF bring, and what they do with the last 2 scholarships which I think will be crucial to next year's success.

[joeg1]

Valid points made here for sure. However, I'd like some accountability on the development of Walker, one of JM's prize signings, other than " I see him every day" etc.

Who is working with him? Has he shown any progress? What moves is he working on? How is his strength, footwork, etc.... Anything? Does he figure to be in our plans going forward.... or as I fear, will we be seeing a brief AD release saying he is leaving the program and we wish him well.

My concern is Walker seems like a good student and should be highly coachable... is anyone on the staff up to it? JM's a big boy and won't melt if he's asked a few tough questions

[ZMAN3]

ZMAN, I disagree with some of your points. He didn't leave the cupboard bare? He set the program back 2 years with his departure. He told Chaz and Halil to leave because they were "A-10" players. And he took his incoming class (Frazier, Dominique etc) with him. IMO, he could not have cared less about what shape he left Hofstra in.

And lets not make him out to be Coach K. They were the best team in the CAA in 06. No excuse being down 25 in the championship game against UNCW. I blame Pecora for that loss. He was overconfident about locking up an at large bid after beating Mason for a 2nd time.

I liked TP when he was here, he was a good representative of Hofstra University, and so were his teams. He was a strong recruiter and his teams at Hofstra played with heart all of the time. But we all know he was lacking in the X's and O's department. We can summarize his offense in 1 word: "Move!!!"

I think its unfair to JM to compare him to TP after 2 seasons. JM inherited an absolute mess. He was able to bring "his guys" with him from Niagara yes. But if he can recruit Philly kids to Niagara, I think he should be able to recruit them to Hofstra. The jury is still out on this staff's recruiting. Lets see what Buie and JWF bring, and what they do with the last 2 scholarships which I think will be crucial to next year's success.

First off my original post on TP was basically that he shouldn't have been fired, shouldn't have gone to FU in lst place and should have stayed at HU - was not looking to defend him. Maybe we wanted more but the record speaks for itself. As to his offense - whether you thought it was sophisticated or not - we had no trouble scoring.
I have no knowledge of him advising Halil and Chaz to leave so when he left - they were still here. Many kids transfer when a new coach leaves/arrives (see JM). Welch and Cassara screwed things up not TP.
PS-Jay left also and the roster couldn't have been more barren (7 top players graduated) when he skipped town. I remember TP saying at Basketball Awards Dinner - "We are going to miss Jay but we are going to miss those 7 seniors even more"

[daHUPride]

TP's offense was not creative. His recruiting was excellent, there was always someone exciting in the pipeline. Did I think his HU teams under achieved - yes. Did I think he "did it" wrong when he threaten HU with steering recruits away from HU - yes. I also thought that he left at a time when HU was peaking with talent and that hurt us but it was his right to make his own decisions that he thought was best for him - his timing sucked for us and ultimately him.

JM's did some incredible things in a short time here with the cards he was dealt with - but he must do more - because this team is talented and needs to play better - as a season ticketholder, like the rest of you, I need to see a better product to keep going and seeing the same underachieving team year in and year out.

[EvanJ]

They were the best team in the CAA in 06. No excuse being down 25 in the championship game against UNCW. I blame Pecora for that loss. He was overconfident about locking up an at large bid after beating Mason for a 2nd time.

I was disappointed how far down Hofstra went in that CAA Final, but UNCW was favored by 3.5 so it's not like it should have been an easy win (or a win altogether).

[Dooku25]

Never said it should have been an easy win. Point spread meant nothing going into that game. They had 26 wins and an RPI of 30. They were too good to ever be down by 25 to any team on their schedule that year, let alone the conference title game on national TV with the selection committee watching. It cost them dearly.

[stuball888]

Wasnt that the game after the famous Tony Skinn punch to Stokes groin. Stokes was not the same player in that game.

[HUSID80]

Agreed Stu don't we think that had something to do with that game?

[Dooku25]

It was the game after the Skinn punch, but it was not a factor against Wilmington. Stokes had 26 pts and 7 rebs in the title game. And was a huge part of the furious comeback late in the 2nd half. I think they went on a 30-7 run to get it to a one possession game, but they got no closer. Stokes was an absolute warrior.

[EvanJ]

Never said it should have been an easy win. Point spread meant nothing going into that game. They had 26 wins and an RPI of 30. They were too good to ever be down by 25 to any team on their schedule that year, let alone the conference title game on national TV with the selection committee watching. It cost them dearly.

Why does the point spread mean nothing? The sentence I underlined doesn't provide the whole story. UNCW had 24 wins (they got their 25th win in that game) and finished with a better RPI and strength of schedule than Hofstra. UNCW also had an easier time winning their game hosting Hofstra than Hofstra had hosting UNCW (when Hofstra won in triple overtime). Do you think Hofstra would have gotten an at-large bid if they had lost by 3 or 4?

Edit: And to be fair to Pecora, he wasn't the only one who thought Hofstra would get an at-large bid with a CAA Final loss. ESPN wrote that they thought Hofstra would get an at-large bid with a CAA Final loss.

[Dooku25]

Evan, what does the point spread have to do with being down 25 in a championship game? I know UNCW was a good team, so what? A day earlier, Hofstra defeated a team that was about to go on a run to the FINAL FOUR. Maybe just maybe, Pecora allowed his team to keep in the back of their minds that they were securely in the tournament going into the Wilmington game. How else could a team this good go down 25 in a game?? It had to be in their mindset, that no matter the outcome, they were going. Instead, Pecora should have had his team laser focused to go all out for 40 minutes to win the CAA championship.

[ZMAN3]

Evan, what does the point spread have to do with being down 25 in a championship game? I know UNCW was a good team, so what? A day earlier, Hofstra defeated a team that was about to go on a run to the FINAL FOUR. Maybe just maybe, Pecora allowed his team to keep in the back of their minds that they were securely in the tournament going into the Wilmington game. How else could a team this good go down 25 in a game?? It had to be in their mindset, that no matter the outcome, they were going. Instead, Pecora should have had his team laser focused to go all out for 40 minutes to win the CAA championship.

Stuff happens in sports - sometimes there is no accounting for it - that's why they play the games - how you get down 25 no more explainable than making 30-7 run. Not about to kill TP's career over a game or even a few. For some reason they were flat (at least to open game - possibly the hangover from beating GMU) Could give them credit for not quitting also.
PS-How in hell did Knicks beat "NBA Champs" the other night ?

[gothamli]

I'd love to find my post from the day he left HU for Fordham. it was an AWFUL move on his part. . . AWFUL. We would have been a NCAA team in 2011 and lord knows what after that. It set us back 5 years (if not more) and now his career is probably over. Well done TP.

I disagree. Didn't like Pecora when he was here. There were plenty of teams that he had that should've won the CAA. We should've won it at least once while Jenkins was here. We didn't win it because of lack of talent or everyone's favorite excuse (tourney being in Richmond, I mean if that's the case why hasn't St Johns win the big east in ages?). We didn't win it because Pecora's coaching submarined us.

I don't know how anyone can say we'd be an ncaa team in 2011 under him (and lord knows what after that) when he's been here when he was here for 9 seasons and hasn't made the NCAA's once.

[Polito]

Sry Z, guess I struck a chord, no offense meant bud

TP teams had no offensive plan, NONE, and every single person on here (including YOU Z) had an issue with it, and rightly so - his lack of a real O cost them many a game, just the same as the lacking D cost JMs group plenty this yr

My point was simply that you had many of the same issues with him as others did - he's not all of a sudden great because he isn't here - I liked TP, always said he was a great recruiter, and I felt he rep'd HU very very well, and ran a clean program - BUT he had many shortcomings and thats one reason why HU never won the CAA, and also one reason why FU still hasn't been even remotely relevant

No coaching staff is perfect - I ink its crazy to say JM will never match TPs work here - disagree 100% - let's allow the same time to show what they can do

And I've already said that JM needs to up his talent for the style of play he wants, but lets not discount this staffs recruiting in just 2 yrs - understand, Green and Tanksley CHOSE to follow him and sit a full yr - they also landed Bernardi (basically a 3* kid who also CHOSE to sit a yr) and Nichols when the last staff couldn't - they also signed TWO 3* post guys, something never done by any staff

They also just landed 2 of the best guards in the city - now HU has always had great guards but they're both 3* kids and are considered big gets for HU - let's see how they finish up the class

Bottom line, appreciate TP for what he did at HU, and wish him nothing but the best - but e time had come to part ways - HU has their commitment hat on, and a strong staff in place - I'm expecting big things - time will tell if they can produce..

[HofstraHockey]

TP on Sports Final on NBC right now

[ZMAN3]

Sry Z, guess I struck a chord, no offense meant bud

TP teams had no offensive plan, NONE, and every single person on here (including YOU Z) had an issue with it, and rightly so - his lack of a real O cost them many a game, just the same as the lacking D cost JMs group plenty this yr

My point was simply that you had many of the same issues with him as others did - he's not all of a sudden great because he isn't here - I liked TP, always said he was a great recruiter, and I felt he rep'd HU very very well, and ran a clean program - BUT he had many shortcomings and thats one reason why HU never won the CAA, and also one reason why FU still hasn't been even remotely relevant

No coaching staff is perfect - I ink its crazy to say JM will never match TPs work here - disagree 100% - let's allow the same time to show what they can do

And I've already said that JM needs to up his talent for the style of play he wants, but lets not discount this staffs recruiting in just 2 yrs - understand, Green and Tanksley CHOSE to follow him and sit a full yr - they also landed Bernardi (basically a 3* kid who also CHOSE to sit a yr) and Nichols when the last staff couldn't - they also signed TWO 3* post guys, something never done by any staff

They also just landed 2 of the best guards in the city - now HU has always had great guards but they're both 3* kids and are considered big gets for HU - let's see how they finish up the class

Bottom line, appreciate TP for what he did at HU, and wish him nothing but the best - but e time had come to part ways - HU has their commitment hat on, and a strong staff in place - I'm expecting big things - time will tell if they can produce..

I don't want to belabor the point but I DIDN'T CRITICIZE PECORA - NEVER WANTED HIM TO LEAVE so please stop the nonsense. He certainly wasn't perfect (who is?) I looked through the archives but I never believed we had the best team in the CAA when you consider talent and where the tourney was played. Remember we came from the AE - an inferior conference. Never had the best roster top to bottom. The Big 3 were dynamic in VA - still are. Only Drexel of the AE teams was able to capture a regular season championship in 2012 and none ever won the tourney until the flagship schools bailed. The other AE teams never won the regular season title. The VA teams won 22 out of 24 regular season championships and 21 or 26 tourneys (with UNCW winning 4). Only Drexel in 2012 was able to capture a regular season title. So maybe you guys were a little deluded about how good we were - I wasn't.

[Dooku25]

I still think we had the best team in the CAA in '06. Hofstra was the only team in the country that had 5 different players score 25 pts in a game. If we didn't have the best roster from top to bottom, we certainly had the best starting 5. Also finished with an RPI of 30, so not sure how deluded we were?

And what happened the year after? We blew the quarterfinal against Mason. We had Stokes, Rivera, and Agudio, yet down 3 on the final possession, somehow Playstation Johnson drives for a layup. Great coaching by Pecora there.

[budman]

I have to stick up for Zman3, two years before Pecora left he said to me "If Pecora leaves a lot of people will be sorry". I hated Pecora but I knew Zman3 was right. I still hate Pecora but Zman3 was right. The only reason we won 20 games this year was because we played such a weak schedule. We play no defense! How do we lost to Vermont, we had better athletes and were bigger team. we lost because they played much better team defense than us. I am sick of JM saying how we lost because the other team was tougher than us. JM has to teach team defense. J Green should be one of the best defender in the league. He plays O lay on defense he lets his man go by him then try's to knock the ball away. We are not going to win anything unless we play better defense.

[HofstraHockey]

A lot of people on Rose Hill were sorry, too.

[Polito]

Not looking to argue about it - I appreciate TP for his time at HU - IMO it was time to part ways, no remorse for me and no bad wishes at all

Forward march, onward and upward - HU is on the right track again, lets give this staff the same equal chance every other has had