Tom Pecora sat at the podium and tried to keep it light.
He joked about being sick. About wanting to go home. About Christmas trivia. About anything that might buy him a few extra seconds before the moment finally caught him.
It didn’t.
Returning to Hofstra as the head coach of Quinnipiac, Pecora knew the afternoon would stir something. He knew the pregame video tribute was coming. He knew the standing ovation would arrive. What he didn’t expect was how difficult it would be to steady himself once he was seated, microphone on, room quiet.
“I’m a tough guy. I ain’t going to cry,” Pecora said, before pausing and swallowing hard. “I should have never left.”
Tom Pecora on his return to Hofstra pic.twitter.com/8EDQWOMebA
— CFB Rhules (@CFBRhules) December 21, 2025
He stopped again, gathering himself as the emotion crept closer.
“My midlife crisis,” he added, smiling through it, “my wife said I should’ve gotten a sports car and a girlfriend instead of going to Fordham.”
The room laughed softly. The weight didn’t lift.
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On the floor, Hofstra controlled the game where Pecora said it mattered most, pulling away for a 74–66 win by dominating the glass. He didn’t dress it up.
“You can’t give teams 21 offensive rebounds and expect to win a basketball game,” he said. “They beat our ass on the back porch.”
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Hofstra repeatedly punished Quinnipiac with second-chance points and executed cleanly against switching defenses. Pecora credited head coach Speedy Claxton without hesitation, a relationship that only deepened the emotions of the day.
“Speedy’s a hell of a coach,” Pecora said.
The matchup itself existed because neither program could find games a season ago. What followed became something far more personal. Friends and family filled the building. Former colleagues watched from nearby seats. A place Pecora once helped shape made clear it still remembered him.
“You make plans,” he said. “And God laughs.”
Pecora reflected on the path that led him away from Hofstra through Fordham, and eventually to Quinnipiac, and how returning years later felt heavier than expected. Age, he admitted, has changed how moments like this affect him.
“I’m getting a little soft as I get older,” he said, smiling again.
Quinnipiac closes non-conference play at 9–4, with injured leading scorer Jaden Zimmerman expected back soon and young players gaining valuable minutes.
Conference play awaits. The season moves forward. The feelings stayed behind.
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