Long Island basketball coaching legend Joe Pellicane has been named the head women's basketball coach at Queensborough Community College. Coach Pellicane brings over four decades of collegiate coaching experience to Bayside from across various levels, along with a lengthy track record of distinguished success. 

Pellicane's legendary career includes various stops across the NCAA basketball landscape. Pellicane has coached at the Division I, Division II, and Division III level, including stints at St. John's University, Hofstra University, Dowling College, Molloy University, and SUNY Old Westbury. He has amassed nearly 600 career wins as a head coach in his 40+ seasons of coaching.

"We are thrilled to welcome Coach Pellicane to Queensborough to lead our women's basketball program. I have known Joe for over 25 years and have coached against his teams, so I know first hand the type of program he can build for us here at QCC."

Coach Pellicane most recently served as head women's basketball coach at SUNY Old Westbury for the 2025-26 season, where he took on the difficult task of taking over a program coming off of a winless season, while also sanctioned with NCAA probation.

Prior to his brief time at SUNY Old Westbury, Pellicane served his second stint as head women's basketball coach at Molloy University from 2015-2024. While at Molloy, he led the Lions to the 2017 NCAA Division II Tournament, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen before falling to Queens College in the regional final. Pellicane also led the Lions to a 2020 NCAA Division II Tournament selection.

Prior to his second stint as head coach at Molloy, Pellicane served as an assistant coach at St. John's University under current Red Storm head coach Joe Tartamella from 2013-2015. Pellicane served on a BIG EAST coaching staff that advanced to the second round of the 2014 NCAA Division I Tournament (falling to top-seeded Tennessee), as well as the Round of 16 in the 2015 WNIT.

Before returning to St. John's, Pellicane spent nine years as the head coach of the Dowling College women's basketball program from 2006-2013, where he boasted a 131-76 overall record and led the Golden Lions to two consecutive NCAA Division II Tournament berths. In 2012-13, his ninth year as head coach at Dowling, Pellicane had one of his most successful seasons at the helm of the program, leading the Golden Lions to a program-best 30-4 record, an NCAA Division II National Championship Game appearance, and back-to-back East Coast Conference regular season and tournament titles. He was named NCAA Division II All-Met Coach of the Year and NCAA Division II Bulletin National Coach of the Year as the Golden Lions received a No. 2 ranking in the Final WBCA National Poll. In 2011-12, Pellicane guided the Golden Lions to a 22-7 record, an NCAA Divsion II Tournament appearance, and captured the inaugural ECC regular-season and tournament titles. 

Prior to that appointment as head women's basketball coach of Dowling College, he was also the head women's basketball coach at Molloy University for the 2005-06 season.

Pellicane was first part of the St. John's University's coaching staff from 2002-2004, where he was instrumental in helping former head coach (now University of Michigan head coach) Kim Barnes Arico rebuild the Red Storm into the BIG EAST contender that it is today. As top assistant, he helped bring in a top 40 recruiting class that helped St. John's return to the NCAA Division I Tournament in 2006 for the first time in 20 years.

Prior to St. John's, Pellicane landed his first coaching job in the women's ranks when he coached the Dowling College women's program for two seasons, leading the team to a 38-20 overall mark from 2000-2002.

Before moving over to the women's game, Pellicane spent 13 years on the sidelines as the former men's head basketball coach at Dowling College from 1986-1999. During his tenure, he compiled a 205-161 overall record, averaging seventeen wins per season. He guided the Golden Lions to the NCAA Division II Tournament in 1995 and 1998 as well as the Division II ECAC Championship in 1988.

Prior to his tenure at Dowling, Pellicane was an assistant men's basketball coach at Hofstra University for the 1984-85 season, the head men's basketball coach at Farmingdale State College from 1981-1984, and the head men's basketball coach at Suffolk West Community College for the 1980-81 campaign.

A standout point guard for Dowling College during the days of legendary coaches Frank Layden and Richard Berg, Pellicane helped lead Dowling to the CIAC championship and a top-10 finish nationally his senior year, when the team finished with an overall record of 23-2.

Pellicane is a Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame inductee, a Dowling College Hall of Fame inductee, and is an eight-time East Coast Conference (ECC) Coach of the Year award recipient. He has been the head coach of seven nationally ranked teams, has coached seven All-American's, and has recorded nearly 600 wins in his storied career. Pellicane's accomplishments include 29 postseason appearances, six NCAA Tournament appearances, four NJCAA postseason appearances, seven top 25 national rankings, and 47 first and second team all-conference player selections.

Pellicane received his bachelor's degree in Education/Social Science from Dowling College. He continued his education with a master of science degree in counseling education from Long Island University-Post, then later received his School Administration and Supervisor Professional Diploma from Dowling College.

He and his wife, Linda, reside in Deer Park, N.Y. Pellicane has three children, Andrea, Keith and Lauren. Lauren played basketball from 1996-2001 at Villanova University where she played for head coach Harry Perretta, before serving as a graduate assistant coach for the Wildcats.

Coaching Experience

Season(s)	Institution	Title	Record	Accomplishments
1980-81	Suffolk West C.C.	Head Coach (Men)	17-7
1981-84	Farmingdale State College	Head Coach (Men)	65-23
1984-85	Hofstra University	Assistant Coach (Men)
1986-99	Dowling College	Head Coach (Men)	205-161	NCAA Tournament: 1995, 1998  ECAC Championship: 1988
2000-02	Dowling College	Head Coach (Women)	38-20
2002-04	St. John's University	Assistant Coach (Women)		Top assistant for current University of Michigan Head Coach, Kim Barnes Arico
2005-06	Molloy University	Head Coach (Women)	9-19
2006-13	Dowling College	Head Coach (Women)	131-76	NCAA Tournament: 2012, 2013  2013 NCAA Division II National Runner-Up  2013 NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year
2013-15	St. John's University	Assistant Coach (Women)		NCAA Tournament Second Round: 2014  WNIT Round of 16: 2015
2015-24	Molloy University	Head Coach (Women)	113-124	NCAA Tournament: 2017 (Sweet Sixteen), 2020
2025-26	SUNY Old Westbury	Head Coach (Women)	2-20
		Totals (as Head Coach)	580-450

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