After a highly successful high school career at our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie, where he was an All County football and baseball selection, John Sottile entered Wagner College in Staten Island, New York. He was the starting centerfielder in the late 60’s for the Seahawks in the highly competitive Division I Met Conference against such perennial powerhouses as St. John’s, Seton Hall, NYU, LIU, Fordham, and Manhattan. In 1970 he began his teaching and coaching career in the North Rockland School District. Throughout his tenure at North Rockland John coached at all levels of football and baseball.

In 1991 John was appointed to the position as the head baseball coach at North Rockland High School. He held that position for 14 years. During his career as the head coach at North Rockland he amassed a record of 281 wins, with only 78 losses. Along the way John won 8 league championships, 6 Section 1 Championships, 5 Capital Region Championships and 3 NEW YORK STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS. He was the League IB Coach of the Year 7 times and NYS Section One Coach of the Year in ’93 and ’94. The Journal News selected John as the Rockland County Coach of the Year 8 times and he was honored as the New York State “Coach of the Year” in 1992, 1993, and North Rockland

After a highly successful high school career at our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie, where he was an All County football and baseball selection, John Sottile entered Wagner College in Staten Island, New York. He was the starting centerfielder in the late 60’s for the Seahawks in the highly competitive Division I Met Conference against such perennial powerhouses as St. John’s, Seton Hall, NYU, LIU, Fordham, and Manhattan. In 1970 he began his teaching and coaching career in the North Rockland School District. Throughout his tenure at North Rockland John coached at all levels of football and baseball.

In 1991 John was appointed to the position as the head baseball coach at North Rockland High School. He held that position for 14 years. During his career as the head coach at North Rockland he amassed a record of 281 wins, with only 78 losses. Along the way John won 8 league championships, 6 Section 1 Championships, 5 Capital Region Championships and 3 NEW YORK STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS. He was the League IB Coach of the Year 7 times and NYS Section One Coach of the Year in ’93 and ’94. The Journal News selected John as the Rockland County Coach of the Year 8 times and he was honored as the New York State “Coach of the Year” in 1992, 1993, and 1994. Also in 1994 John was voted as the American Baseball Coaches Association “Coach of the Year” as well as the National High School Baseball Coaches Association, “Coach of the Year”. In 2000, his North Rockland High team was invited to participate in the Upper Deck Classic, a tournament in Anaheim, California for the top teams in the nation. His teams were ranked in the top 25 in the nation on three separate occasions, finishing as high as 16th in 1994. Many of his players have gone onto play in college and seven have been drafted by Major League teams.

John also coached for Diamond Pros New York, a private organization that sends travel baseball teams all over the world. He has taken teams to Italy and competed in tournaments in Rivabella, winning several times. In 2001 John took an All-Rockland County team to the Torneo Estate competing against 6 Italian teams and a strong entry from California. In classic fashion this team won an unprecedented 5th title. He is currently the director of the Federazione Italiano Baseball and Softball All Star Camp in Rivabella, Italy. This year two of John’s campers were members of the Italian team that made it to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. It was the first time an Italian team made it that far.

John and his wife Mandy live in Stony Point and have four children: David, 36, was a baseball coach in Arlington and is now a Principal in the Irvington School District; Gina, 34, is a personal trainer and a member of the F.D.R. High School Sports Hall of Fame; Joe, 31, is a teacher at North Rockland and coaches the Farley Middle School baseball team; and Gina, 19, is a second year student at R.C.C..

After a two year hiatus, John returned to coaching in 2007, as an assistant at the St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill. In his second year at St. Thomas, the team won its first ever league championship, was seeded first in the conference 2009 ROCKLAND COUNTY SPORTS HALL OF FAME most wins in a season

This year John decided to help his son Joe coach the middle school baseball team. John continues to work at baseball camps and gives private hitting and pitching lessons.