Rice at Penn is More Than Just Another Game for Pera

The life of a coach could be compared to that of a nomad. Outside of the rare few, they are never in the same place very long. College coaches, regardless of sport, can be connected to many schools throughout their career. It is even rarer that their career takes them back where it all started: home.

However, in the case of Rice head coach Scott Pera, that is exactly what happened.

When Pera leads the Rice Owls against Penn on Friday night, it will be a Homecoming in more ways than one. Prior to coming to South Main in 2014, he served as assistant coach with the Quakers from 2012-14. But, even more importantly, Pera grew up in Hershey, Pa., less than two hours from where Friday's game will take place.

When going on the road, winning the game is always most important. But, in the rare instance that you play somewhere that you are so familiar with, it becomes more than just another game.

"I've had 125 people ask for tickets and there are more that are buying their own. The hardest thing for me will be having the chance to say 'Hello' to everybody. But I certainly appreciate how many people that have shown interest in wanting to come down and watch us play and have followed my career over the years and want to root for Rice. It will give us some fans at this game. It's obviously very heartwarming. I'm very much looking forward to seeing those people. But, most importantly, giving our kids an experience that hopefully they won't forget. Part of that is hopefully winning a tough road game."

In fact, Pera, who began his career at Elizabethtown College in 1992 coaching basketball and baseball, had not seen his players in 25 years. However, some have made sure to be at the game and support their former coach.

"The fact that some of them reached out to me and asked about it or checked our schedule and knew the game was happening is just really, really cool. Will Nicholls, the center fielder on that team, lives in Philly and was the ringleader in assembling this. Other guys jumped on board and there's going to be six or eight of them (at the game). It's been 25 years since I've seen some of those guys and obviously looking forward to catching up with them and their families."

Coaching at Penn and playing all your home games in the Palestra would be an experience for any coach who grew up loving college basketball. But for someone who grew up near the area, it was so much more.

"The whole thing was a really neat experience for me. I knew of the Palestra growing up. I followed the Big Five my whole childhood. I used to watch the games on Channel 29 Philadelphia on Tuesday nights. To have the opportunity to coach in the building with so many people so close by that I knew growing up. There was always people coming by practices, always people coming to the games. Obviously, being able to have my parents and my daughter's grandparents be able to come to the games, it was just a really great time the two years that I spent there."

Most times in coaching, the wins and losses are what gets the attention. But ask any coach and they'll tell you that what's most important are the players you coach and the impact you had on them. Tomorrow night, Pera gets to spend his Homecoming with a number of those players, as well as the people who had had an impact on him: his family.

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