"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. "

"Horrible. Not what she seems. She seems so nice in recruiting but in reality she is crazy and emotional. She makes mistakes feel like the end of the world and she picks favorites. "

"Horrible. The absolute worst person you could have coach your son."

"We end up having to coach ourselves, because he doesn’t do anything during practice or matches. He is very hands off and won’t or can’t give you any advice to get you back on track. It can be very frustrating sometimes in matches when your opponent receives coaching from their coach and yours is nowhere to be seen or just asks if you need water and to just get the ball in."

"I was recruited to play but what i realized is she manipulates her players against one another as a motivation. I've never seen a coach also coach and plan a private meeting and plan to have teammates provide feedback of complaints on emotional behavior to its own team mates through a controlled manipulative setting. Then she tries to have these players sign a contract to control their behavior while the rest of the team signs a different contract. That's failure to bring a team together. "

"As a player I never u Dr stood why fall ball was t take. Seriously. The running test is a joke no one trains, the lift program is unsupervised no dedication to encouraging players to get stronger. No nutritional development. I watch all the Instagram of centennial teams and they act the part. Dickinson pretends not sure why the leadership is so I dedicated. The team felt the effects many many ACL injuries and it’s definitely due to poor training and practice."

"Confidentiality- as a player when you share confidential info with the coach you never expect it to be used against you or as a threat. Coach masimore asks us to be vulnerable and share our emotions and when you do then she uses it against you in behavior, playing time, starting etc. she’s a master of making you feel bad in a game when you’ve given it your all. Never share your thoughts with her. "

"This coach is a bully. She lies to her superiors about her actions and that has been proven. She recruits underclassmen to lie to upperclassmen. She threatens certain players. She needs to be replaced immediately. Disastrous 2022 season. She plays victim and cries in front of the team constantly. Dickinson must take action, this coach is an embarrassment. "

"As a player when I see a coach yelling at the refs it’s just sends the wrong message . Refs are there to do a job but I was mortified by masimores behavior with the refs. She constantly treats them poorly. Frankly I felt so bad for them. She was not a good example for women in this sport when it came to competition "

"I’ve never known a coach who uses her own teammates to send a message because she can’t do it herself. She ambushes her own teammates against one another and then creates separate contracts for the team. She has no understanding on how to develop a culture. She leads by bullying, manipulation and threatening. Team lost 6 players this year due to her poor culture and management of team. What’s sad is she even lied to administration about how she handled this. Her record is 34-34 in 9 years . Time to move on Dickinson. Change is good-"

"Since her arrival the team has changed due to the intense social justice messages that Ellison promotes and encourages to the team. Many feel she is stepping out of her jurisdiction especially when she interferes in social aspects of girls outside of lacrosse. If you don’t support these messages you are tested unfairly as a member of the team. It’s not about lacrosse it’s about social awareness. When girls are recruited they want a coach who focuses on winning."

"This coach is a bully. She lies and does not care about her team. She picks on certain players and will loose games in order to punish them. She never teaches the team any plays and I watched for 4 years as she destroyed her team physically and mentally. She is truly a terrible human being. "

"Bullying, lying, is not respected by the team. "

"Does Not help with the athletes at all. No understanding of the game and how to coach "

"Don’t trust what he’s selling. He will tell students and parents what they want to hear and then do the opposite. Has favorites. No logical reasoning behind who plays and who does not. Absolutely unable to communicate. E.g. Will not share line up until game is starting despite being asked to be proactively transparent to allow players to mentally prepare, if he has an issue with a player he is not forthcoming and instead gets their hopes up to only let them down again and again) Shows no real interest in students academics, other than pointing out if the student has received an unsatisfactory Consequences for poor athlete behavior is only addressed if and when he is forced to address it (i.e. it was witnessed by others who expect a consequence) Does not like to be questioned/challenged by players, and especially by parents This review is reflective of the opinions of multiple players and families over many years with student athletes who were allowed to play and others who were not deemed worthy of playing. Do yourself a favor, save yourself the heartache and choose another school if playing baseball is important to you. Beware! You will not actually receive what he’s selling. Good leadership yields great results. Take a look at how many times Dickinson has made the playoffs. "

"Bad coach. Does not know how to manage a team and can't motivate a group of girls. She does not care about the mental or physical health of her players. She also does not understand the strategy of the game and makes players adhere to here crap style of play. "

"She is demeaning and doesn't know how to motivate our team. Our program has gone down since her becoming coach. "

"She is demeaning and doesn't know how to motivate our team. Our program has gone down since her becoming coach. "

"Has seemed like a good guy, conversational and understanding, when I've interacted with him off the field. On the field, a completely different person. Doesn't have the backs of his players. Offers little assistance when players are struggling; only builds up players who are thriving. Great recruiter, brings in strong talent. Doesn't use it well."