Thomas Wolfe was wrong; you can go home again. And Todd Bowles is even getting to rebuild the house.

Bowles was born and bred in Elizabeth, NJ, and began coaching as a Jets assistant. Now his breakthrough comes as Gang Green’s new head coach. When his mother, Joan, passed away nearly eight years ago, Bowles figured there wasn’t much left for him here. But he figured wrong. There was the job of a lifetime and a chance to rebuild his hometown team.

“I’m happy Todd will get to do it his own backyard, where he grew up, surrounded by everybody [in his] heart. New York’s lucky to get a guy like Todd,’’ Don Somma, Bowles’ former high school coach, told The Post. “Todd is the CEO of this major corporation. The goal isn’t to double their stocks; it’s to win the Super Bowl.

“The Jets are lucky to have him. Todd’s blessed to be there, and the Jets are blessed to have him. Not that Coach [Rex] Ryan didn’t do a good job, but Todd will do a great job today, and tomorrow an even better job. Always keep getting better.’’

That sums up the 51-year-old Bowles, who grew up in the since-demolished Pioneer Homes projects, but ignored the distractions and avoided the pitfalls so many others haven’t.

“He had good parents, they pushed him,” said longtime friend Towana Myers, 51, who graduated with Bowles in Elizabeth High School’s class of 1981. “We all came from the projects … we struggled. He lived in Pioneer Homes, I lived in Migliore Manor. I was on 1st Street, he was on 2nd.

“He was low-key, always into doing what he had to. Whatever business he had to handle, he handled. That’s what type of guy he is: He will accomplish. Whatever he set his mind to do, he will do it.’’

Ask anybody who knew Bowles, and you’ll hear the same story — a kid who was disciplined on the field and off. That’s how he helped turn a winless Elizabeth program upon Somma’s arrival into a winning one by his senior season.

“He understood. That’s why he was at free safety, because he could see the picture,’’ said former special teams coach William von Bischoffhausen, in a double entendre that applied to making the defensive calls as well as making the right decisions in life.

“You could see the special kids, the extra thing that defines them as an athlete or a person. You can tell the kids that are frivolous about doing things, and there are kids that know … they had to go to class, they had to do all the little things to be successful.’’

The Minutemen captured the first of eight state sectional titles the next year, with Somma, von Bischoffhausen and former secondary coach Kirk Hamrah all saying Bowles helped lay that foundation.

“Todd was like having another coach on the field,’’ said Somma.

“Coming from Elizabeth, the inner city, you’ve got to have discipline. you’ve got to be strengthened and not let all the distractions get to you, or you’ll never make it,’’ Hamrah told The Post. “When we came in, it was a very hard thing to change the climate. Todd’s class was the one that really bought into what we were doing. Todd was the silent leader and had a lot to do with that. Kids gravitate toward certain players. Todd was one of them. Certain kids, they lead.’’

That’s what Bowles did throughout high school, and as captain for then-coach Bruce Arians’ Temple squad in 1985. Despite going undrafted, there he was two years later playing for Washington in Super Bowl XXII.

Eight years in the NFL as a player, and five stops in 15 years as an assistant — Jets, Browns, Cowboys, Dolphins, Eagles and the last two years under Arians as the Cardinals’ defensive coordinator — have brought him full circle: Back home, and taking care of his family.

“Todd’s a good kid. He named one of his sons after my brother that passed, Troy,’’ said Bowles’ cousin, Tony Williamson, 54. “Todd’s just a quiet guy. He’s to himself about everything, very low-key person. He takes care of his business and that’s it. Once he left Elizabeth, he went to Temple, he did his thing, take care of his mother and his family, and that’s it.

“[Bowles’ mother] was a secretary for the Board of Education, then she started working for Schering-Plough. She was his heart. When she died, he figured there was nothing for him here.’’

In addition to 8-year-old Troy and 11-year-old Todd Jr. from a previous marriage, Bowles and his wife, Taneka, also have son Tyson (born in 2011), and 21-year-old stepdaughter Sydni Paige Russell, an LSU senior and former New Orleans Hornets cheerleader who just had a child with Cardinals defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, another addition to Bowles’ growing family.

“Mrs. Bowles was a great lady. She’s up there watching this, bless her,’’ said Somma. “Todd used to babysit my kids. I remember taking Todd down to the shore with my family, walking the boardwalk. We were all very close. I had to chase those guys out of the locker room. Todd was a strong part of that.

“I remember going to watch Todd when Temple played Pittsburgh. After the game we took him out for dinner. I bought a bottle of wine for my wife and daughter, but he wouldn’t take a drink. He said, ‘Just let me smell the cork.’ I said, ‘Todd, in your lifetime, you’re going to get to smell a lot of corks.’

“They say carpe diem? Well, Todd really did [seize] his moments.’’

Surely Bowles would have allowed himself a celebratory glass after the biggest moment of his coaching career. Now he just has to seize it.