On February 7, 2020, Pitt-Johnstown’s Pat Pecora became the All-Time Winningest Coach in college wrestling at all divisions of NCAA, plus NAIA and Junior College.
Pecora, who has also doubled as Pitt-Johnstown’s Athletic Director since 2008, took over as head coach of the Mountain Cat wrestling program in 1976 following a stellar wrestling career at West Liberty State (WV) College.
Through 48 seasons at Pitt-Johnstown, Pecora holds college wrestling’s all-time wins mark with 661. On February 7, 2020, Pecora earned his 617th career win and snapped a 46-year-old record to become college wrestling's all-time winningest coach when his fourth-ranked Mountain Cats dealt 11th-ranked Mercyhurst a 22-12.
He enters the 2024-25 season with a 661-154-5 overall record, and a .807 career winning percentage.
Pecora, the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) National Coach of the Year in 1995, 1999, 2019, and 2022 has led Pitt-Johnstown to a pair of NCAA Division II National Championships, 25 NCAA Regional titles, and eight straight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships.
His teams won five consecutive NCAA Regional titles from 2003 through 2007 and ten in a row from 1992 through 2001. Pecora has been named the NCAA Regional Coach of the Year 22 times.
Pecora’s squads also have 38 Top-20 national finishes, 24 Top-10 finishes, and 11 Top-5 finishes.
Pecora has tutored 170 All-Americans and 15 individual national champions who have combined for 23 titles. Academically, his teams led the nation in NWCA All-Academic Wrestling Team selections from 1997 through 2000. Since 1990, Pecora has coached nearly 200 NWCA All-Academic Wrestling Team members.
In 1996 and 1999, his teams captured the NCAA Division II National Championship, the first and second in school history. Along with the National Coach of the Year honor in 1999, Pecora also received the National Wrestling Coaches Association Coaching Excellence Award, given to the best coach in all divisions. Pecora, the 2023-24 NWCA Bob Bubb Excellence in Coaching Award recipient, also coached the National All-Star Team, which showcased the best wrestlers in the nation from all divisions.
Pecora, a member of the NWCA Board of Directors, was also the president of that organization for two terms.
Pecora has earned induction into nine halls of fame...Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame-East Boro Chapter (1994), Cambria County Sports (1998) West Liberty State (W.Va.) College Halls of Fame (1998), Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame (2001), NCAA Division II Wrestling Hall of Fame (2003), Pitt-Johnstown Athletics Hall of Fame (2015), Western Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame (2016), Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (2017), and the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame (2021).
Pecora and his wife, Tracy, have four grown children, Cristina, Marco, Marina, and Nico, and eight grandchildren.
