A veteran presence on the sidelines in Amherst, Cannella loyalty to the University of Massachusetts lacrosse program currently ranks the veteran leader as the second-longest tenured head coach across all Division I schools, while Cannella holds the fifth-most years as a Division I head coach among all current program leaders nationally.

Cannella's long-standing success on the UMass men's lacrosse sidelines earned the 1988 University of Massachusetts graduate his 200th head coaching win at Drexel on March 31, 2018. With the milestone victory, the 2018 CAA Coach of the Year became only the 10th active coach to reach 200 head coaching victories at the NCAA Division I level.

Combined with the success of Cannella's mentor, former UMass head coach Richard F. Garber (1955-90), Massachusetts is the only program with one head coach in the 300-Win Club (Garber) and another in the 200-Win Club (Cannella), where both individuals earned all of their victories at the same institution.

During his extended tenure, Cannella already guided his Minutemen to nine NCAA Tournaments including its 2018 berth, claimed eight New England Championships, won five conference titles and led the Minutemen to the program's first-ever No. 1 national ranking. He was named the CAA Coach of the Year in 2011, 2012 and 2018, his fifth, sixth and seventh conference coach of the year honors. Cannella also earned the New England Coach of the Year five times and was named the ECAC Coach of the Year on four occasions.

In 2006, Cannella was chosen as the USILA National Coach of the Year after he led UMass to its first-ever lacrosse NCAA Championship Game appearance.

Through the completion of the 2018 NCAA Division I season, Cannella's guidance of the Minutemen to the 2006 NCAA Championship Game etched the program into the record books as one of only 17 institutions to ever appear in the NCAA Championship Game. Massachusetts is also one of only two teams from New England to reach the NCAA finale (Yale, 2018).

Cannella took the reigns of the UMass lacrosse program in November, 1994 with a great understanding of the program's storied history. He was a two-time letterwinner for legendary team leader and the Father of New England lacrosse, Richard F. Garber, in 1986 and 1987, and an assistant coach for two seasons with the Minutemen prior to taking over as the head coach.