Q & A With John Lonardo

By Michael Malaszczyk

Coaches are the backbone of baseball. A team’s style of playing, the playing time allocation, the relationships in the clubhouse, and so on are very much dependent on the coach. In terms of sheer knowledge of how to coach, one won’t find someone more knowledgeable than Coach John Lonardo (currently coaching at Locust Valley), who is retiring after a whopping 34 years of coaching baseball.

In an interview with Axcess Baseball, Coach Lonardo was happy to share his thoughts and reflections on his long, storied career.

“I’ve been coaching since 1988,” said Lonardo. “I got my start playing college baseball at John Jay College. When I wrapped up with college baseball, I got my first job as an assistant coach at Bethpage High School.”

After spending a number of years as an assistant coach at Bethpage, Lonardo moved up the ranks and became the head coach at SUNY Old Westbury. From there, he spent the rest of his coaching career at Locust Valley High School.

Lonardo’s coaching success stemmed from his winning formula of playing. “My style, from the very beginning, has been to put pressure on both the offense and defense,” he said. “One thing that we were always known for, especially at SUNY Old Westbury, was base-stealing.” Lonardo’s base stealing was so impressive that it broke NCAA record and landed his team on the cover of Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. 

Coach Lonardo’s favorite memories are those of who he coached. While there were far too many players to name, he named a few players from his time coaching both college and high school baseball.

“I had the pleasure of coaching guys like Ryan Caulfield, for whom there is a county award named after,” said Lonardo. “I coached Robert Whitenack, who was drafted by the Chicago Cubs. My shortstop at Old Westbury, Winter Adames, was my first player to get signed professionally. More recently, I coached Tommy Eletto, who is now one of the top pitchers at the University of New Haven. There’s so many more kids I could name, all of the players I’ve coached have made such a huge impact on my life.”

Lonardo added that some of his biggest support came from his fellow coaching staff, namely his assistant coaches. He gave shoutouts to them as well.

“Glenn Mitchell was my pitching coach at Old Westbury,” he said. “Ronnie McKay was one of my assistant coaches at Old Westbury. As a matter of fact, Casey McKay was my batboy – and now he’s the head coach at St. John the Baptist!”

Considering St. John the Baptist’s success in recent years, it’s safe to say that Casey McKay learned a lot under the tutelage of John Lonardo. 

“I also worked with Rick Garrett, who is now the head coach at St. Joseph’s Patchogue; he coached one year with me at SUNY Old Westbury,” said Lonardo. “Rod Stephan, who is now the head coach at Old Westbury, was my pitching coach when I was there. Hector Aristy coached with me for many, many years and now is a coach at C.W. Post. Chris Smith, one of the best players from Nassau County and started with the Baltimore Orioles, was my assistant coach at Old Westbury. Now, finally, at Locust Valley, I want to mention working with Rich Kershow, whose son is the catcher at Northport High School.”

To all those named – and those who weren’t name – Coach Lonardo could not be more grateful for the impact these players and coaches have had on his life.

“I have just been blessed to work with so many guys who have really made this experience worthwhile,” he said.

When asked what the most rewarding part of coaching is, Lonardo was very direct: it’s not the wins or the losses, but the relationships.

“It’s all about the relationships, and it’s all about the relationships you have with your players, the relationships you have with your assistant coaches, the relationships you have with the parents,” he said. “There’s nothing better than seeing kids that you’ve coached grow up. You know, I live in Bethpage, and I see kids that I coached at Bethpage, and now I see their kids. They say to their kids about me ‘you know, this was my coach in high school’. It’s just all about the relationships and getting to know great people.”

While Lonardo’s coaching career has come to an end, he is not quite finished with baseball just yet.

“My son is a sophomore in high school,” he said. “And it’s his time now. I will stick around to help him and other kids along the way with getting into college and whatnot, but overall I’m looking forward to sitting back and watching my son play.”

As fans of baseball, we owe Coach John Lonardo a huge debt of gratitude for all he has given to the sport over a course of 34 years. Thank you, Coach Lonardo, for guiding players and other coaches along their journeys in this wonderful sport. Happy retirement!