NEW ROCHELLE, NY — On the heels of an successful inaugural campaign for men’s sports at the College of New Rochelle, the Blue Angels Athletic Department has announced the addition of Baseball for the 2017-18 season. And, on Friday, Athletic Director John “Jay” Butler announced that Tommy Cannella will be the programs first skipper.
From 2014-2016, Cannella was the hitting coach at Queensborough Community College in Bayside, N.Y. In his two seasons at Queensborough, the Tigers offense was notable finishing 18th in the nation in home runs with 23 in 2016 and in 2015 went on a nine-game span of averaging 10 runs per game. In those two years, Queensborough qualified for the Region XV playoffs and in 2016 returned to the CUNY Championship game against Kingsborough, losing 7-4.
Prior to Queensborough, Cannella was the junior varsity head coach at Salesian H.S in New Rochelle, N.Y. for five seasons. Responsible for laying the foundation of Salesian’s baseball program from 2010-2014, Cannella was an integral part of turning around a struggling program into what would become a 2015 Catholic High School Athletic Association “AA” varsity finalist, which was one strike away from winning the City Championship against Monsignor Farrell. In 2013, Cannella received the Sportsmanship Award by the North Shore Baseball Umpires Association partly in due to an unlikely playoff run. After defeating No. 5 seed Farrell, Cannella’s No.10 seed Salesian knocked off then undefeated (19-0) No. 1 seed Stepinac by a score of 9-2 in the quarterfinal round of an 18-team playoff.
During the last nine summers, Cannella has coached college-level teams throughout the Tri-State area. Most recently, Cannella was associate head coach for the New York Expos in the North Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League and has managed 19U teams for several organizations such as the House of Sports in Ardsley and the Hutch River Baseball Academy in the Bronx. Currently, Cannella is the head coach of the 18U Bronx Bombers and Co-Director of PEGS Baseball Training, which specializes in mental conditioning and the facilitation of summer camps.
Cannella received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the Pennsylvania State University at University Park in 2008, with a Journalism major and a double minor in English and Psychology. In 2015, Cannella earned a Master’s degree in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University in Irvine, California. He is also in the process of earning certification in Sports Psychology by the Association for Applied Sports Psychology.
He played baseball for Salesian HS, 2000-2004, winning the CHSAA “B” City Championship in 2004.
Cannella is a full-time history, journalism and physical education teacher at Salesian H.S. where he also coaches bowling. Under his watch, the bowling team won its first City Championship title in 2013 and backed it up with another one in 2014. Cannella resides in the Pelham Bay area of the Bronx, N.Y. and is a proud uncle to two neices: Gianna and Alexa.