"I have a lot to say about Matthew Richwine — and none of it is good. If you love softball, do yourself a favor and don’t play for him. He has a way of draining every ounce of joy from the game, replacing it with control, manipulation, and an environment so toxic it could poison an entire team. The other review you’ve seen? Believe it. Every word is spot-on. Let’s start with one of his most disturbing tactics: the so-called “Leadership Board.” At first glance, it sounds like a development opportunity. In reality, it’s a power play. Richwine hand-selects a few favored players, often not based on talent or leadership but on personal favoritism, and meets with them privately every other week. These meetings are not constructive. They are thinly veiled gossip sessions, where he openly criticizes and ridicules his own players behind their backs. He encourages these handpicked girls to rank, judge, and talk down their teammates, creating a culture of division, paranoia, and elitism. If Richwine doesn’t like you, there’s no hiding from it. You’ll be slandered, excluded, and judged—by your own teammates, all with his encouragement. He has even implemented a twisted rating system where these same players, under his influence, evaluate others' “commitment” to the team. You’re not assessed on effort, integrity, or performance. You’re assessed on whether or not he likes you. You don’t have a voice. He decides. He controls. He manipulates. But perhaps the most indefensible aspect of his coaching is what he chooses to ignore. When a player goes to a coach after enduring numerous physical hits and countless verbal abuse from another teammate, an issue that was ongoing, serious, and deeply harmful, what do you think a coach should do? Nothing according to Richwine. He looked the other way. Why? Because he’s known the abusive player’s family for over ten years. Rather than protecting a vulnerable athlete, rather than stepping up as a coach and a mandatory reporter, he chose to protect his personal relationships. He chose silence. He chose complicity. That alone should disqualify him from any leadership role. It’s not just poor coaching: it’s a betrayal of trust, safety, and basic human decency. Matthew Richwine doesn’t build a team. He builds a hierarchy of favorites and enablers, fueled by intimidation and favoritism. If you want to grow as a player, if you care about respect, accountability, and actual leadership—look elsewhere. You deserve better than this. Every athlete does. And all that is only what I had the energy to type out regarding this man. I’ll let you think about that for a second. "