Hampton Bays, NY native Rich Pecoraro III has played baseball his entire life. While his younger years included basketball and football, baseball was his true passion from the beginning. Pecoraro played Division II and III college baseball and coached high school, summer league and college ball. In the summer of 2024, he was hired as the new head coach for the St. Joseph’s University, New York Brooklyn Bears.
“I was so excited when I got the job at St. Joseph’s. Coaching is what I was always meant to do and I want to do it at the highest level,” said Pecoraro, who is no stranger to St. Joe’s spirit as he graduated from SJNY’s Long Island campus in 2013.
Pecoraro joined the SJNY Eagles roster as an outfielder in 2011 after transferring from Southern New Hampshire University where he played baseball. In 2012, He was named to the East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) Metro All-Star Team, American Baseball Coaches Association All region team and D3Baseball.com All Region team. He was team MVP and earned Skyline All Conference Honors in his senior season in Patchogue.
After commencement, he embarked on his coaching journey. Pecoraro began with travel teams, summer leagues and eventually coached the Holy Trinity High School JV teams. From there, he went over to SUNY Old Westbury where he coached for four years following COVID. Pecoraro has also been a personal baseball and softball instructor for more than a decade.
With his years of coaching experience, Pecoraro felt prepared stepping into the head coach role for St. Joseph’s.
“Coaching is 5 percent on the field and 95 percent everything else,” he said.
Pecoraro’s strongest coaching techniques include versatility, consistency, creating relationships and accountability. He likes his players to have versatility in different positions. His expectations for his players are simple: no matter what, you show up and get better day in and day out.
Every day he and the St. Joe’s coaching staff preach accountability and an excuse-free environment—not only enforced by the coaching staff, but by the team itself.
“Coming into St. Joseph’s, the main goal for my first season was to build a culture that will last for multiple years going forward,” he said.
Pecoraro has three assistant coaches—Tyler Zucker, who is the pitching coach; Tran Hennessy, who works with the catchers and infielders; and Eric Del Rosso, an outfield coach. All three have college baseball experience. They are hopeful about the commits coming next season.
“We want to bring in guys that want to be a part of changing a program, not just be a part of a program—to bring in guys that fit into the culture of this team we are trying to build,” Pecaroro said.
While it was a tough season, the Bears finished on a three-game winning streak.
Coach Pecoraro is excited for his era as a member of the St. Joseph’s Brooklyn Bears Baseball family.
While he has been honored for his performance as a player, Pecoraro says his biggest achievement in his career so far came when he was given the game winning ball by the Bears’ players for his first collegiate win as their coach—a 12-10 victory over Lehman College.
