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By Mandy Haggerson

For the Clemmons Courier

With spring sports underway at local high schools like West Forsyth, coaches like Marshall Canosa are excited to see the enthusiasm for the season.

Going on his second year as the assistant coach for the Titan’s boy’s baseball team, Canosa is optimistic and said, “It’s a good group of kids and we are expecting great things from them.”

Canosa was a natural fit for the job to join the coaching team with Kevin McIntosh at the helm. Having grown up in a family that lived and breathed baseball, it was always second nature to Canosa to play and push himself to improve. Influences like his father, who managed professional teams, impacted his decision to play at Villanova University. 

“My entire family played baseball, on all levels, and it was something we enjoyed as a pastime,” said the former college athlete.

Canosa played throughout his college years while also studying secondary education with a concentration on social studies. Starting in 54 out of 80 games while at Villanova, Canosa loved the camaraderie of his teammates and competing. Balancing athletics and being a student was a helpful tool for Canosa who also excelled academically. 

After graduating, Canosa was offered numerous college coaching positions as an assistant. Canosa’s focus was working with the catchers primarily and assisting with strength training too. When offered the position to come down to North Carolina and help the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest University, Canosa was excited to take it. 

During those four years while gaining valuable professional experience, he also met his future wife Kati who also shared a love of baseball and sports.

“I met Kati who was working at then Wake Forest Baptist Health, and we kept running into each other. We realized we had a lot of things in common with our beliefs on faith, family and sports,” he said. “We planned to get married on Jan. 6, 2007, and to kick off the wedding we went to watch Wake play in the Orange Bowl four days before the big day. It was a really fun way to celebrate, and I loved that Kati enjoyed it as much as I did.”

The adventurous newlyweds decided to experience a new chapter by moving to Canosa’s home state of New York.

“I had gotten a job at Hofstra University, and we stayed there for about a year before heading back to North Carolina,” said Canosa. “By that time, I had spent enough time in college baseball to realize I didn’t like the business side of it.”

When Canosa moved back, he decided to teach and coach for a variety of schools before landing at North Davidson for a little over 10 years. 

During that time, Canosa also became a dad to Jenna in 2011 and Andrew in 2017.

“My father taught me the importance of being a good person, and also the necessity of being a good father. As the kids continued to get older, I knew that I wanted to be heavily involved in their lives and activities,” said Canosa. 

With North Davidson being a 35-minute drive from his family, Canosa was hopeful to have an opportunity that would allow him to do what he loved but also with more convenience.

“I got a call from someone that I actually used to coach against. He was the assistant principal at West at the time and alerted me to an opening he thought I should consider,” said Canosa. “Ironically, he transferred to Reagan the day that I got the interview, and I took the position that weekend.” 

Excited to be a Titan, Canosa has loved teaching history and sociology to the upperclassmen when he is not coaching baseball.

“The biggest change from my previous school is really the size is larger. The kids are academically and athletically motivated which is great. There is also a higher accountability from the teaching staff because of it. It’s really cool to see the different backgrounds that come into the classroom. You have kids from all over the world that share their diverse backgrounds and cultures which helps the classroom setting quite a bit,” said Canosa. 

If not helping on the West baseball field or inside the classroom, you can likely find Canosa coaching one of his kids’ sporting teams. He led the St. Leo’s girls varsity team to another successful season.

“I’ve loved having the opportunity to spend that time coaching Jenna and her teammates,” said Canosa. 

If not coaching Jenna, he’s coaching Andrew at the Southwest Little League for the Rockies.

“I love that I get to do what my father did for me with both of my children. It’s such valuable time spent with them, and I don’t take for granted the impact it has. I know it did for me,” said Canosa. 

With the first game in the books for the Titans’ baseball team this week, Canosa is appreciative to his wife for supporting his passion.

“The next hardest thing to being a coach is being a coach’s wife. She has patience and an understanding that I love what I do. She helps make it work with all of our schedules. Luckily at West, I do have some flexibility with my job so that I’m able to accommodate her schedule too,” said Canosa.

When the Canosas’ schedule lightens in the summer, they plan to take a trip to Italy.

“Ironically, my grandmother had encouraged baseball to my family because she loved America, and it was the great pastime. She never got her citizenship, although she thought she did. Because of that, my kids and I are eligible for dual citizenship, and so we plan to go to Italy and make it official. We’re excited to take a trip for 10 days to visit where my family was from and other points of interest like Rome and the Amalfi Coast,” said Canosa. “I think my grandmother would have loved that, and I can’t wait to share it with my kids too.”