Complaint Review: Frank Leoni

Coach frank leoni of Marymount University in Virginia, and formerly of William and Mary University and the University Of Rhode Island baseball is amongst not only the most incompetent baseball coaches in the history of college baseball at any level, he may be the most incompetent coach at any level ever and most corrupt.

frank leoni became the head coach of the univiersity of rhode island (uri) baseball team in the early 90's due to default. uri was the last rank team in all of division one college baseball. Others turned the job down, leoni, as a former player at the school, took the job with NO previous coaching experience at any level and it showed. leoni would commonly hang out with players on the team as if they were college buddies and selected his team based on who he liked and who the players on the team he hung out with liked. PERIOD. Baseball ability was never a consideration in his selection of his teams. because this was a division one program, players had an expectation of competence when they selected to go to uri.

leoni is the least professional person associated with college baseball at any level and this can be verified by any other college coach who has had the misfortunte of associating with him, as they have zero respect for him. There are players who were potential major league draft picks who went to uri to only not make the team at all or to be cut by leoni on multiple occassions BASED SOLEY ON LEONI'S DISLIKE OF THESE INDIVIDUALS AS PLAYERS AND PEOPLE, Not baseball ability, some of these players were not only known and recruited by upper-tier college programs, but also major league baseball. leoni used his position to attempt to drag down players he didnt like as people, because his friends on the team didnt like that player, or because of his own jealousy that he never made it anywhere or because he has some grude against individuals who come from private schools. This was particularly true of players who came from private schools. he was a product of the public school system and because he never made it to a private school. he always held this grudge against players from private schools. leoni's practices were a joke, he would attempt to fill 3 hour baseball practices with 2 hours and 15 minutes of running and conditioning. This is no joke or exaggeration. the reason is becuase he didn't, and doesnt, know enough about baseball to fill a 3 hour baseball practice with baseball.

In addition, leoni would keep a sheet of notebook paper in the locker room hung on the wall where he would weekly rank players on the team on their athletic ability. This was based on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most athletic and 1 being the least, howerver for some, the scale went below 1 down to 0. Without exception, leoni's friends on the team would always be ranked at a 5 or close to it, whereas players he didnt like, specifically those he was jealous of and those from private schools, would be ranked closer to 1 and sometimes below 1, as in, with a decimal point in front. This scale was completely fraudulent. Anyone with eyes could see who was athletic and who was a player. leoni only used this to berate players and more importantly, used it to defame players to administrator or profressional scouts so that he could keep down players and bury people he didnt like. Also, his pitching coach, a guy named middleton, commonly verbally and physically abused players including on one occassion shoving a pitcher near a concrete wall during a drill where pitchers were practicing covering first base during and indoor practice.

Bottom line, leoni used that program to attempt to promote himself and the people and players he liked with no regard for fact or integrity with developing players or to benfit players careers. Anyone who seemed successful in that program was either because leoni himself promoted that player using his mounth and false evalutations or eliminating better players, or because that player overcame leoni to be successful. PERIOD. There were also rumors regarding the embezzlement of funds from the athletic department by leoni and drug and steroid use by players who felt the program was too lowly ranked to be tested and for them to be caught. leoni used his position to get the players he was in cohoots with into competitive summer leagues they had no business playing in. There were players leoni cut from his program that were better suited to play in those league, but again, leoni used his position to bury those players. There were also rumors of players and parents paying off leoni to "improve things" for that particular player., which meant get rid of the competition. Scouts and professional baseball people know of his conduct issues, including the burying of player that these scouts had been follwing since they were children and knew that something wrong was and is going on with leoni and his programs.

leoni has also been implicated in an attempted "hit" on a former player he cut from his program on multiple occassions who then went on to embarrass leoni by his stellar play in a summer league which leoni and this player participated in. This league was watched by many upper teir college coaches and professional scouts and questions were being raised. leoni, not wanting to be embarrased further, or have his conduct exposed when people start asking questions about this player he attempted to bury, is alleged to have attempted to have this players throwing arm broken. Also implicated in this is joe cummings of the specialty co. in providence, rhode island, who it is believed that leoni, uri, and his players had a relationship with. leoni has used his behavior to slander of former players and attempt to affect thier lives negatively in rhode island through his defamation with local police in rhode island utilizing his "false reports" much like he used his false evaluation to slander players. Like the old saying When You Tell One Lie, It Leads To Another...leoni's lies have multiplied to the point he has NO credibility.

leoni has bounced around from 2 division one programs uri then william and mary, he had no business coaching to now a division 3 program he in all likelyhood still has no business coaching at. marymount probably felt they were lucky to find some with his experience to coach their new d3 program, but the turth is here, the truth is NO ONE ELSE WANTS HIM. and now you know why. he is not trustable. he has ZERO integrity. and NO class. At least at division 3, he has very little chance to affect the future of any potential professional baseball player, yet it is still too high a level for him. With his previous and current conduct, he really should not be in a position to oversee or affect the future of anyone.

leoni began as an accountant, and truthfully, that's where he should be, Sitting in a cubical where he cannot affect anyone elses future being told what to do and constantly supervised by a 22 year old who actually knows what he or she is doing.

leoni's conduct has been DOCUMENTED with the NCAA on more than one occassion