In hiring Welsh, Hofstra still makes the Wright connection

You know it's a good day when you have to decide which story gets the Jay Wright schedule card treatment!

When Hofstra hired Tim Welsh as its new head men’s basketball coach last week, it brought an end to a 16-season era in which the Flying Dutchmen were either led by Jay Wright or someone from his coaching tree.

It did not, though, signal the end of Wright’s influence within and on the program.

At the press conference introducing Welsh, Hofstra athletic director Jack Hayes said he consulted with Wright in the search for Tom Pecora’s replacement. And while Wright is the godfather of Hofstra basketball as we know it, his approval of Welsh wasn’t a necessary part of the process.

But it certainly didn’t hurt, either. Wright, who became friendly with Welsh in competing with him for New York-area players while Welsh was the head coach at Iona and Providence and coaching against him in the Big East from 2001 through 2008, told Hayes he thought Welsh’s personality and pedigree made him a good fit for Hofstra.

“He’s got great New York ties and I think he’ll respect the great tradition of Hofstra,” Wright said from his Villanova office Wednesday afternoon. “He’s good friends with Tom and myself, he knows how much we love Hofstra. He also understands the pride that we all took in New York basketball, and I know Tim does also. And I think Tim will understand how much a part of Hofstra basketball New York basketball is.

“I think [the Welshes will] love living on Long Island. His wife Megan and [Wright’s wife] Patty are friends, they know how much we loved living on Long Island. Tim will fit in well with everyone there—not just Jack but everyone in admissions and housing and on campus.”

Hayes’ consultation with Wright is alternately common and unique. Hayes said it’s routine for athletic directors who are seeking a head coach to speak with active coaches. Hayes’ instinct was always to replace Pecora with someone who had head coaching experience, but before he officially began the search process, he sought feedback from not only Wright but also Davidson coach and ex-Hofstra star Bob McKillop as well as Florida coach and Rockville Centre native Billy Donovan.

Yet Wright’s ties to Hofstra make his role in Hayes’ search particularly noteworthy, especially since Pecora’s top assistant, Van Macon, was also a candidate for the job and would have continued the Wright lineage had Hofstra hired him.

“You want to support Van, because he’s part of the family,” Wright said. “And then you also understand that the president and the athletic director have to make the decision for what is best at the time. I kind of knew they were going to go outside [the program] and just asked me more about Tim and I thought if you want to go outside the program, Tim is perfect.”

“I think when you build relationships in this business and you build trust in this business with athletic directors and coaches, then you’re able to have very useful conversations and very helpful conversations that aren’t necessarily slanted towards motives,” Hayes said. “That wasn’t the conversation that I had with any of those individuals. It was strictly about seeking their help on what’s their perception of the job.”

Wright said he was honored Hayes chose to consult him in his search for the new coach even though he didn’t work for either Hayes or president Stuart Rabinowitz and, following Pecora’s departure, had no familial connection to the program, either.

“I think Jack knows and Stuart Rabinowitz both know that my family still takes great pride in Hofstra and have great love for Hofstra and Hofstra basketball,” Wright said. “Hofstra University [is] very important to us and always will be. I would have been just as understanding if they didn’t include me in the process, because I’m [just] a fan and a supporter. But I did take great pride in the fact that they did consider my opinion.”

Consulting Wright in the decision-making process could pay future dividends for Hofstra and those within the athletic department while also solidifying and lengthening Wright’s ties with the school and creating a bond between the new coaching staff and the old ones.

“Maybe somewhere down the road, Jay is interviewing someone for some administrative position and someone from Hofstra has an interest in it,” Hayes said. “And all of a sudden I get a call now from Jay Wright: ‘We interviewed so-and-so, what can you tell [him] about them?’ I want to be able to be that same type of resource that he was for us.”

Said Wright: “We have a Villanova party every year at the Final Four and we have everyone who worked or coached at Villanova that is still in college basketball. But everyone at Hofstra is included in that because Tom always brought his staff. Tim automatically becomes a part of that family.”

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch. 

A long-distance dedication from Jerry on Long Island to Jim in Fairfax!

Enjoy your freelance “writing” opportunities while you can, Jim. (Oh and let me beat the paste-eaters and those who like to start fake Twitters to the punch: I suck so much that Jim Larranaga is getting bylines and I’m not) As of this weekend, you’re no longer the last coach to lead a mid-major to the Final Four and America is no longer in search of the next George Mason.

Sure, we know there’s a difference between what you did and what Butler did, but most of America won’t get it (just like it didn’t get the real story four years ago, but that’s neither here nor there). I, for one, look forward to Brad Stevens’ future freelance writing opportunities. Hope you cherished those 15 minutes, Jim! Tick, tock, tick, tock…

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch. 

Five thoughts on the Welsh presser

I always wanted to cover a press conference in the days of black-and-white. This will have to suffice!

Lots of material to sift through following the Tim Welsh press conference—45 minutes of Welsh, Stuart Rabinowitz and Jack Hayes at the podium followed by more than half an hour of group and individual interviews—so it’s probably easier to take the bullet point approach to the day rather than trying to absorb it in one giant feature story. Plus, there will be plenty left over to discuss next week. Enjoy your Easter weekend!

1.) Hofstra didn’t just win the press conference, it dominated it. We’re talking historic dominance here: Reagan over Mondale, the 49ers over the Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX, the 1992 Dream Team over the rest of the world. This is no surprise, of course: If there’s anything Hofstra is really good at, and has been really good at since long before I could find Hempstead on a map, it’s winning press conferences. Of course, that should happen when a school is run by people obsessed with the tone of the publicity it receives.

Anyway, as expected, Hofstra did everything right Thursday. Rabinowitz was front and center, delivering the buzzword-filled message that Hofstra remains fully committed to athletics.

“Jack said ‘It’s going to cost more money, probably, to get such a person,’” Rabinowitz said. “I said ‘The University is willing and able to make strategic investments and enhance contributions to those athletic programs in such a manner that we can improve them and reach national acclaim.’”

He dropped a little hoops knowledge on the crowd, correcting himself when he said he hoped the team would make multiple NCAA or NIT appearances. “There won’t be an NIT anymore,” Rabinowitz said.

He even tugged at the heartstrings by noting this press conference was for a much happier occasion than the last one. “The last time we had a press conference here was a very sad day,” Rabinowitz said. “My stomach was turning many different ways.”

Did I imagine Rabinowitz reciting the letters “NIT, NIT, NIT” to himself as he stepped to the podium? Sure. Did he look as if he’d rather be someplace else? Sure. But when doesn’t Rabinowitz look as if he’d rather be someplace else?

Unlike Dec. 3, Rabinowitz hung around and mingled after the press conference. My favorite sight of the day was that of Hofstra staffers rushing to introduce Rabinowitz to Charles Jenkins and Nathaniel Lester and setting up photos between the president and the basketball players. I’ll bet my meager fortune that those photos find their way into multiple media guides and all sorts of Hofstra literature next year. LOOK AT US WE LIKE SPORTS!!!!

2.) Hofstra certainly conducted itself like a vibrant athletic program in searching for and finding Welsh. Hofstra dropped plenty of names Thursday—Hayes and Rabinowitz said the school consulted the likes of ex-coach Jay Wright, ex-Hofstra stars Bob McKillop and Speedy Claxton and Florida coach Billy Donovan during the search while Welsh said he talked with or heard from big-timers such as Jim Calhoun, Geno Auriemma and Mike Brey—and not once did it sound like an extra on Entourage. It never sounded as if the school was trying to angle itself with people with whom it did not belong.

Consulting the elite in finding a head coach who has led multiple schools to the NCAA Tournament: Not bad for a school that, two weeks shy of 16 years ago, was among the bottom 10 programs in the country and entrusting its future to a 32-year-old with a headline-happy last name.

3.) Part of winning the press conference is having a winning personality to introduce. To the surprise of nobody, Welsh—an experienced coach who spent the last two years as an analyst on ESPN—was comfortable, personable, confident and savvy in front of the crowd. He pointed out reporters he recognized and said he was looking forward to getting to know the rest of the media corps (we’ll see what he’s saying after I begin annoying him).

He was funny, declaring that he was impressed so many Flying Dutchmen made it to the press conference even though the school is on spring break. “If somebody called me when I was on spring break back in the ‘80s and said ‘You’ve got to come to a press conference,’ I wouldn’t have answered my phone,” Welsh said. “I would have been in Florida.”

He was smart, lauding and mentioning Charles Jenkins multiple times. As close as he was and is with Tom Pecora, Jenkins is too mature and too much of a professional to make Welsh beg for his approval, but Welsh had nothing to lose and a lot to gain by making Jenkins feel wanted and appreciated.

He sounded hungrier than ever after two years on the sideline, talking about how he missed the “winning and the misery” of coaching that Pat Riley has so often spoke about. He mentioned the joy of Iona fans and faithful when he coached the Gaels to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 13 years in 1998 and how much he wanted to bring that experience to Hofstra.

Most importantly, Welsh paid homage to his predecessors and the tradition Wright and Pecora established while also declaring he was ready to stamp the program with his own identity. “This place has been there, it has been close and the foundation has been set,” Welsh said. “It’s not like we’ve got to come in here and blow up the game plan.”

Welsh noted his New York credentials—“I have an EZ Pass, I didn’t have to get one, I know how to get to the beach, I know how to get to the AAU gyms, I know how to get to the high school gyms, I know how to get on the train”—but also said he was willing to go into the CAA heartland to get players. Pecora’s recruiting philosophy was pretty well-known—metro-area high schoolers, European high schoolers and JUCO players from Florida—and had become the subject of some criticism by Dutchmen fans.

Welsh also dismissed the idea it’s impossible for a northern school to win the CAA. Pecora, of course, made no secret of his disdain for the southern-dominated CAA and how he thought the Virginia-based schools had an unfair advantage.

“I had a good 20-minute fight yesterday with Mad Dog Russo,” Welsh said. “He was trying to tell me Hofstra can’t win in a southern league. I’m like ‘Chris, that’s a ridiculous statement. I don’t know why you’d say that. Just because they haven’t won before means they can’t do it? It’s like saying Louisville and West Virginia can’t win the Big East [tournament] because it’s in New York City. It’s kind of the same, isn’t it? I don’t get it.

“It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard—so stop with that, whoever said that. Games are played between the lines. Ten guys on the court, two coaches and three referees. It doesn’t matter if it’s in Richmond, or next door at the Coliseum—doesn’t matter where it is—or in Italy…[the southern nature of the CAA] can’t be used as a crutch.”

Hmm, think the powers that be were happy to hear Welsh’s words on that topic?

4.) Welsh did pretty well for himself Thursday, financially and professionally, but the biggest winner of all was Jack Hayes, whose power and influence as athletic director were called into question after the football debacle.

Hayes looks pretty secure and authoritative after this. Indeed, the fashion in which Hayes landed Welsh is going to get him his next job.

While most of Hofstra’s neighbors and rivals continued to mess up their coaching searches (I’m pretty sure I was next on the list at St. John’s, and I’m beginning to think UNC Wilmington isn’t going to hire someone before Midnight Madness), Hayes quickly, efficiently and secretly identified Welsh, interviewed him and locked him up, all within a week of Pecora’s official departure. Is it ironic, in that it’s not ironic at all, that the only two local gigs to be filled seamlessly thus far are the jobs that Pecora left and the one he took?

5.) Hofstra declared itself ready to compete for championships by making Welsh the highest-paid coach in the CAA (that’s right, more, apparently, than Jim Larranaga—again, do you REALLY think it was a coincidence George Mason announced Larranaga’s latest extension when it did?).

But did Hofstra also make it more clear than ever that it wants out? I found it very interesting that Hofstra has retained Mike Tranghese to, in the words of yesterday’s press release, “…to assist in the development of a strategic plan for the Hofstra Athletics program.”

Tranghese, of course, is the former commissioner of the Big East. He’s not here to tell Hofstra to go back to the America East. Wouldn’t forcing the rest of the CAA to pay more for its head men’s basketball coaches be quite a present for Hofstra to leave on its way out the door?

I’ll have more on this next week, but with NCAA Tournament expansion all but inevitable and the BCS schools likely to set off a chain of conference realignment and maybe even reformation, wouldn’t it be something if, once the dust settles, Hofstra is in a conference similar to or better than the Atlantic 10? What if Pecora didn’t have to leave Hofstra to eventually get out of the CAA?

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch. 

Tim Welsh Press Conference—Jack Hayes Q&A

You’re a Providence graduate who worked in the Big East while Tim Welsh was the head coach at Providence. So what’s your very first Tim Welsh memory?

You want this one? My very first memory—I’m assistant athletic director at Fairfield and he’s at Iona and Iona was the benchmark program in our league. So my very first interaction with Tim Welsh was in that three-year period that he referred back to 13 years ago when he was the head coach at Iona and I worked at Fairfield. Then he takes the Providence job at my alma mater, so I followed the situation. I’ve actually seen him now when we were in the same league, then when he was at my alma mater. I’ve always been very impressed.

When did you get the idea that you’d have to find a new men’s basketball coach?

Tom and I went back and forth. I worked at Fordham, I knew the place, I knew the people there. Tom and I, it was probably a little different than when you would normally be involved in a job like this. Tom and I were able to have a conversation candidly about what Fordham was like. I knew that he was very, very close to taking that job. I knew it. I knew he was because, like I said, unlike maybe some other situations, we were very close. We’re very good friends. I enjoyed working with him so much. And I knew a good amount about the place that he was considering, which probably doesn’t happen all that often.

So what it actually did was it allowed me to really start to think about when’s this going to happen and is it going to happen? You always have names in mind—you’re supposed to, that’s what somebody in this position would do—but ironically, Tim Welsh wasn’t on my mind, because I didn’t know he had an interest to come back. When Mike Tranghese mentioned that name as somebody that would be interested in coming back, he was number one on the list. And that really happened at some point over the weekend.

What do you think this hire says for athletics at Hofstra?

Hopefully it says that we’re committed to athletics, we want to win, we know the importance of having a successful basketball program. I hope that’s what it says. That’s what I think it says.

Tim will be paid more than Tom was. Does this mean there will be a commensurate increase in the rest of the basketball budget?

I think you have to do what [is right for] you. I’m sure Tom’s salary is greater than the person that he replaced at Fordham. Each school has a situation, each school has to do what’s best for them. And you’ve got to go out and find the best person. Sometimes that’s what you need to do.

Are you surprised this only took a week?

It’s felt like a lifetime, to tell you the truth. It has. But you just don’t know. You hope your first candidate shares the same interest that you do. You hope you can bring him in and meet with the president and everybody’s on the same page. You can do all those things and the candidate could say ‘You know what? I’m going to wait another year.’ And then you’ve got to move on. So you just don’t know what that time frame’s going to be. The fact that we were locked in on our first candidate and then everything went so smoothly, [it] probably went pretty quick.

It seems like it was a delicate process.

It is. It is. And I’ll tell you why: When you want to hone in on head coaches, you have to do so in a way that’s respectful of their situation and doesn’t expose them if they are not ultimately considered or ultimately chosen. And that’s a tough thing to navigate through. It all depends on what your process is. If you’re open to not necessarily just looking at head coaches, maybe you can do it a little differently. I felt that where our program was and all the things that Jay Wright and Tom Pecora had done, I felt an obligation to find somebody who had been a head coach.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch. 

Tim Welsh Press Conference—Halil Kanacevic Q&A

What’s it like for a freshman to go through a coaching change?

For me, it’s not really that big a change. This is my fourth coach in six years. High school, coming into college, I had coaching changes throughout the years. Coming from JV to varsity to my varsity coach changing to my first year of college, now I’ve got a new college coach. It’s a different situation, but you’ve got to adjust, see how things work out. It was a great first meeting with the coach, we had a meeting with him this morning. Keep rolling along, keep rolling with the punches.

Actually, you know what, it’s a different adjustment if you talk about it. It’s college. I high school, you’re the premier player. And now you’re in college, you’re part of a system, so it’s differences and changes—different coaches, different philosophies. You’ve got to do your best to adjust.

Charles talked about looking Welsh up on YouTube. What did you do to learn about him?

I had seen him on the TV a couple times, so I remembered him from there. And then I looked up the Internet, looked at his track record and saw that not only did he coach at Providence, he had some big time conference [experience], but he coached Iona, which means he coached at a level that’s basically the same level as the CAA. So you see the guy has coached at all different levels, he’s coached all different types of players, all different types of talents. He’s a well-rounded coach and I’m waiting to get to work with him, get to talk to him some more, see what his plans are.

Was this a rollercoaster week for you guys?

At first, not really, because coach Pecora usually had his name in the paper all the time. But then it got a little bit more serious. There were rumors that say he’s taking the job at Fordham. And finally we heard about it and we had a meeting with Jack Hayes [who talked about how Hofstra was] going to find a new coach. It’s been a pretty crazy week, hectic week.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch. 

Tim Welsh Press Conference--Charles Jenkins Q&A

Got lots of stuff coming from the Tim Welsh press conference today, but before we get to the Q&As we conducted with Charles Jenkins, Halil Kanacevic and Jack Hayes and before we put the event in context in our usual rambling and semi-coherent prose, we implore you to check out WRHU’s website (links at the upper right of the page) for its comprehensive coverage of the Tim Welsh story.

WRHU has done an incredible job on this, contacting everyone shy of Welsh’s babysitter to get the back story on the Flying Dutchmen’s new head coach. They didn’t get Welsh’s babysitter, but Mike Leslie and Jon Lauder did elicit from one of their interviewees a very good babysitter story connected to Welsh. It’s invigorating to see the passion they’ve brought to this and every other Hofstra story, big and small. Check them out, and then come back here for those Q&As!

What has this process been like for you?

The last 10 days have been very stressful, dealing with the fact that coach Pecora left and [how] we didn’t know who was going to get the job. I tried to stay close to my teammates. At the time, we were all we had. We didn’t know which direction Hofstra was leaning towards, who they were going to hire. I spoke to Mr. [Danny] McCabe [the executive associate athletic director] and Mr. Hayes the entire week. We stayed in contact with them. They told me trust them, they were going to hire a great guy. I put my faith in them and luckily we were able to land Tim Welsh.

As the team captain, did you find a lot of the guys looking to you and following your lead as you dealt with all this?

It was a bit frustrating. Sometimes I had to turn my phone off and not log on to the computer. I was dealing with so many questions at once, so I just had to basically isolate myself and just keep within my family. I don’t want to be answering a lot of questions. I just wanted all of us to handle everything together, you know what I mean? I knew that I wasn’t hiding from my teammates. We found [out] everything together.

What were your thoughts upon hearing Welsh was the choice?

As soon as I heard the news the other day, I put on my computer trying to find out how he was. I went on YouTube, I saw a one-minute video of him when he was the coach at Providence. I kind of did my research on him and I was able to find out good things, that he’s coached great players. I’m looking forward to playing for him. There’s nothing like playing for a coach who has a lot of experience in the [NCAA] Tournament or in the NIT or a bunch of 20-win teams. He went 27-8 when he was with Iona. That’s big. That means he can win in a league like that.

As much as you’re looking forward to playing for Welsh, is this a bit bittersweet for you since you were so close with Pecora?

Yeah, it’s going to be different. When I first found out Pecora was leaving, I was hurt. I took it personally, as a player, because me and coach Pecora were tight. Not just him, but the other staff that we had—we were so close that we had the type of relationship [where] I used to call them my uncles. But at the same time, I’m happy for coach Pecora and his family. He’s over at Fordham and financially it’s a good fit for him. But at the same time, I had to move on with coach Welsh. Me and coach Pecora are still close—all the coaches still speak [with him] everyday. He’s not coaching on the floor with me, but I’m pretty sure that if I need anything, I can still rely on the coaches that we had in the past.

They say it’s business, not personal. I know for sure that coach Pecora’s decision wasn’t anything personal. Off the court, he loved us as players. At the same time, he has to make decisions that are best for him and his family. He has three kids and a wife. He has to, as a father, he has to support his family and I’m pretty sure the Fordham job was something that is going to help put his family in a better financial situation. So I’m happy for him.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

DEFIANTLY DUTCH EXCLUSIVE: Tom Pecora is coming back to coach Hofstra!

A familiar face will step to the podium this morning when Hofstra holds a press conference introducing its new men’s basketball coach. Tom Pecora, who left the Flying Dutchmen to become the head coach at Fordham last week, told Defiantly Dutch in an exclusive interview last night that he has changed his mind and will become the new old coach of the Dutchmen.

“I realized I made a mistake,” Pecora said as he emptied out his office in the Bronx. “Hey, do you want a maroon tie?”

Pecora won’t be the only Hofstra icon returning to the sideline. He’ll be joined by Jay Wright, who resigned from Villanova last night to become his top assistant. Brett Gunning and Joe Jones, the other members of Wright’s first staff in 1994-95, also resigned their positions as an assistant coach with the Houston Rockets and the head coach at Columbia University, respectively, to come back to Hempstead.

“We’re putting the band together,” Pecora said.

Wrote Wright in a text message: “We’re on a mission from God!”

Pecora said he began having second thoughts during his commute into the Bronx last Friday. “I could get from home to Hofstra so quickly, it would take me two weeks to go through both sides of my cassette copy of Air Supply’s Greatest Hits,’” Pecora said. “But I was done with that before I even got off the Island last week. Took me two hours to get from western Nassau to Rose Hill. Traffic was brutal. Gas break honk. Gas break honk. Honk honk punch, Gas gas gas. Horrible.

“And terrestrial radio sucks, man. I mean, you can only hear Lady Gaga so many times before you start to lose your mind. Ra Ra RA RA RA.”

Pecora said he asked Fordham to add a Sirius XM package to his contract but that he was told the ink was dry and there would be no addendums to his deal. He spent the weekend second guessing his decision and singing Lady Gaga under his breath but was determined to remain at Fordham until he woke up in a cold sweat Monday night and realized he couldn’t bear to leave the CAA.

“It’s like Can’t Buy Me Love’” Pecora said, referring to the classic 1987 movie that anybody of a certain age must stop and watch whenever it’s on, even if it airs on Lifetime. “The CAA was Ronald Miller—paying Hofstra, the hot and popular cheerleader, to hang out with it and make it cool. Then everyone came to actually believe the CAA WAS cool, and the CAA ignored us and sent George Mason to the Final Four while we sat at home with ice packs on our groins. So yeah, it pissed me off, and I said some things I probably didn’t mean about the league.

“But in the end, when I pondered the CAA in its goofy cowboy hats, mowing lawns in anonymity, I realized I missed it and loved it. So we’re back. I can’t wait to go to Richmond Coliseum next year, can’t wait for those long bus rides to schools most of our fans have never even heard of, can’t wait for those [bleeping] southern bias calls. Who wants to fly into St. Louis or Dayton? The hell with that.”

Pecora also said he couldn’t bear the idea of not eating at Cracker Barrel several times per season. “You just can’t get a good breakfast like that on Long Island,” Pecora said. “Those biscuits are worth the B.S. we put up with in the CAA. And that awesome peg game where you’ve got to try to only have one peg left in the hole you originally left empty—I love that game. Corso always leaves only one. Showoff.”

Asked if Defiantly Dutch’s plans to expand its empire of Pecora-themed websites—including one titled WhatTomPecoraAteForLunchToday.blogspot.com—contributed to his decision to return, Pecora nodded.

“Look, Beach, I miss you, you goofy bastard, but I’m tired of seeing you jump out from behind bushes at Fordham, crying about how your life will never be the same,” Pecora said. “If me coming back here gets you to stop following me and to stop chronicling my every meal—hey, you want some of this Three Musketeers bar?—then it’s worth taking the 50 percent pay cut.”

As for old new coach Tim Welsh, who agreed to terms on a five-year contract yesterday before Pecora’s change of heart, he immediately became a leading contender for Pecora’s new old job at Fordham. Another surprise contender: George Mason’s Jim Larranaga, who just signed a contract extension Wednesday.

“I got that $75,000 loyalty bonus Tuesday,” Larranaga told me via Twitter. “New year. Dog’s gotta eat.”

Pecora said he hoped Larranaga would remain in the CAA because he always enjoyed taking on his well-behaved Mason squads. “But if he’s gone, hey, we’ll find a new rival,” Pecora said. “I can’t worry about that right now. I need to work on my speech for tomorrow. Do you think they’ll like it if I say something about how Hofstra is a sleeping giant?”

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.