Hempstead, NY -- First-year Hofstra University Baseball Coach Patrick Anderson announced the completion of his coaching staff today with the hiring of John Russo and Marshall Canosa. The two combine to bring more than 15 years of coaching experience to the Hofstra dugout.
"I am excited to have two dedicated and hard-working coaches, who both bring an abundant amount of baseball knowledge and recruiting experience, to help this program flourish," said Anderson. "John and Marshall are both men of character and bring great energy to the Hofstra Baseball program."
Russo, who will serve as Anderson's hitting and infield coach, joins the Pride after spending the past six summers as the manager of the Vermont Mountaineers of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, leading the team to back-to-back NECBL championships in 2006 and 2007. During his tenure with the Mountaineers, Russo coached more than 50 players who were selected in the MLB Draft, including 2008 Colorado Rockies first round pick Christian Friedrich.
From 2001 to 2005, Russo served as assistant coach at Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana. In his role as infield coach, St. Joseph's led its conference in fielding and ranked in the top 10 nationally. Russo also monitored the academic progress of his team, which compiled an overall GPA of 3.1 during his tenure.
Russo began his career in 1998 as hitting coach at the University of West Alabama, helping the team set nine individual and team batting records in his three seasons.
A 2000 graduate of West Alabama with a degree in secondary education and a concentration in physical education, Russo has been a teacher and athletic director in the Millburn School District in Wadsworth, Illinois, for the past three years.
Canosa, who will serve as the Pride's pitching coach, comes to Hofstra after spending the past four seasons at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, working primarily with the Demon Deacons' catchers and pitchers. Two of his charges - catchers JB Tucker and Ryder Mathias - signed professional contracts with the Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays, respectively.
During Canosa's four years at Wake, the Demon Deacons won 120 games and advanced to the NCAA Regionals in 2007. In 2008 Wake Forest starting catcher Mike Murray batted .302 with 36 RBIs and made just five errors on the season while throwing out nearly 23-percent of would-be base stealers.
Prior to joining the Wake Forest staff, Canosa was the graduate assistant coach at Tennessee-Martin during the 2003-04 academic year, where he served as hitting and catching coach, as well as implementing the team's strength program. Canosa began his coaching career as an assistant with the Metro (NY) Cadets of the Atlantic Collegiate baseball league in 2003 and has also coached for the Falmouth (MA) Commodores and the Yarmouth-Dennis (MA) Red Sox of the Cape Cod League in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
During his coaching career, Canosa has tutored eight catchers who have gone on to play professionally and has worked with four current major league players, including Jacoby Ellsbury of the Boston Red Sox.
As a player, Canosa spent two years at the University of Akron before finishing his career at Villanova University. He started 54 of 80 career games at Villanova and was adept at handling the Wildcats pitching staff as well as excelling defensively.
A native of Pine Bush, New York, Canosa graduated from Villanova in 2003 with a degree in secondary education with a concentration in social studies.
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