University of Mount Olive

"Called out my teammates in front of the whole team. Always played favorites even when they were out played and out hustled by others. One went 0-20 at the plate but stayed in the line up with several errors on the field. Not physical errors but mental. Dishonest with players. Even with lies on roster - listed one kid at 5’7” who was lucky to be 5’4” with spikes. Cared more about looks instead of talent. D1 transfer label most important. This year will be daddy ball year with son transferring in. Already plays a daddy ball mentality. Teammates lacked any respect for him. A bunch transferred or just left with more eligibility left. Just bad situation. "

"Overall poor coach for most players. Very dishonest with players. Would rather lose a game than be proven wrong or be honest. Lacks fundamental baseball knowledge. Relies solely on hitting home runs. Discourages hitting based on situation like behind runner, bunting, 2 strike approach. Will sit you if you change your swing to make contact. Has had several players leave and transfer. One packed up and left in the middle of the night during the school year. Will play D1 transfers over better players to keep getting the D1 transfers. Loses cool quickly and will blame players for coaching mistakes and being out coached by opponent. Not nearly as good as Coach Lancaster and it will eventually show. Daddy ball starts 2025 when he gets his son to transfer in. Who can blame him since the infield was extremely weak this past season. Had potential but he sucked the confidence right out of most of his players. Lost the big games because offense scores runs but defense wins championships. Does not develop players at all. Most will leave school or graduate worse than they started at UMO. Even assistant coaches leave yearly because of his style of coaching. "

"Sharif Saber was the worst coach I have ever had. "

"Great coach and helped me become the person I am today "

"I have mixed emotions about Heather. I enjoyed her when I first got to UMO, but she flipped really quickly to show a different person. I always felt when she was stressed about life, she'd take it out on us as players. She makes comments that aren't needed sometimes and makes fun of people to get laughs from players. She does have "favorites" on her team and if you're not a favorite... good luck. In some moments I liked Heather but a lot of times the way she coaches I never agreed with. Just hope you're a favorite. But personal life problems, I will say she can help with that."

"She’s a great coach knows how to hold authority to keep a strict program. "

"She really creates an undeniably respectable team culture. She makes it her #1 job to make sure if one person is having a bad day that our other teammates lift them up; this creates a positive and exciting vibe. "

"She sees the potential in every one of her athletes and pushes us to be our best selves and 110% better than we were the day before, that is why she is a great coach. "

"Coach Emma is real go-getter. Everything is planned out to a tee and she carries a fireball of energy with her."

"From playing favorites, to giving sexual favors to umpires, to illegally taking funds from the program to use in his personal life, to bullying his players to make his ego bigger, I can go on and on about this man. He doesn’t even deserve to be called a man, he’s practically a little boy. He is a coward. For days, I hated myself for letting him talk to me the way he did. All that time, I thought he was helping me, when really he only cared for you ONLY when you were doing well for HIS program. It’s been a few years now, and some of the words he has said to me still haunt me. I am so disappointed over the fact I let that coward, that waste of a human, control my fear and emotions, to the point that I quit the sport I loved. I hope he has learned from his mistakes and has grown from where he was, because I surely have."

"I could tell a million stories, but he verbally and emotionally abused his team at Alderson Broaddus University so much so that his last team all quit and he had to forfeit the season to get the university’s attention. He is the reason I quit softball. "

"He's a lot to handle. If you're not one of his favorites don't expect too much attention or playing time. Make one wrong mistake and you're basically blacklisted from the game. Very hands on and not in a good way. "

"Easily the best coach I’ve ever had. Nicest guy alive. Will make you work, but you’ll want to work and do well for him because he’s so invested."

"He is the best coach ever"

""

""

"Grant is tough, but he is also kind at heart and knows a ton about the game. He won't cut you any slack, but he has to best intentions. "

"Taught me so much about the sport and life."

""

""

"Horrible person. horrible coach. he mentally abused and made 12 girls get hurt because he wouldn’t take care of them. literally the worst person on this planet"

"My freshman year of college I began playing at Mount Olive blindly, with new coaches I had never met. 2 weeks after signing my NLI under coaches that I had met & adored, I was notified that they would be stepping down and they didn’t know who the new coaches would be. This is when Mandy & Luke stepped in. In which our entire team was forced to endure a painfully awful year. I could go on for days, but I’ll highlight my experience. I was appalled at the favoritism shown to select players by both coaches. It was blatantly obvious, as said players would go up to their office after practices/ games and hang out with them and talk about other players and make fun of them/ what not. Some got weeded out of these “hang-outs” after leaking to others the things that were said- in which those players were then targeted (bullied, sat the bench, didn’t travel to away games, etc). Totally inappropriate. They were extremely lazy and would sit on the buckets of balls and let the seniors run practice. We were playing really poorly as a team (after winning a conference title the year before that) and it caused a lot of turmoil between players. After several complaints to the AD, he finally showed up to observe a practice but sat visibly on the bleachers for all to acknowledge his presence, and of course we had an intensive practice ran by both coaches. Coach Luke was FIRING infield ground balls at us at an unexplainable force and speed, his size and strength is no match of any other female player we would face and was pure angerment towards the team for challenging him. He was demeaning and not constructive at ALL. I have several videos from 1:1 batting practice where he degrading my entire form, and talked to me like I was some sort of idiot that never swung a bat before. I fell apart inside and out. I hated the sport. It was nothing I had ever imagined my college softball experience to be. We had 13 freshman to begin the season, 9 of us left, including myself. After a few years, I had learned that Luke had been fired from mount olive for supplying alcohol to underage lacrosse players. He now is back at mount olive coaching again and I know his behavior has never changed, and I feel really sorry for the many other players that were subjected to his disheartening behavior. He acts like a whiny baby and is a complete bully to those he doesn’t consider in his corner. I was punished for missing the first day of class spring semester because I was a witness in my mothers wedding, after I had notified my teachers, and both coaches ahead of time and got the “all clear.” I was punished upon my return to campus by surprise. I was to jog/sprint 40 could poles after practice by myself effective immediately. I had felt so betrayed, there were others that had missed as well- but those players were among “the favorites” and were doing well on the field and didn’t have to run after practice like myself. As I was running, I was beginning to get fatigued and began to slow down halfway, he continued to stand there and scream at me and belittle how I ran, my form, my pace, told me his grandmother was faster, just extremely humiliating & totally unacceptable. After crying (him yelling at me to stop crying and being pathetic), and pushing myself further, I pulled both of my hamstrings simultaneously and was injured/ sat the bench the entire spring season. This man child altered my brain chemistry permanently and tore my dreams and aspirations that I had worked so hard for right out from under me and several others. AVOID THIS COACH AT ALL COSTS. "

"She very honest and fun but will let you know when you should be checked. "

"An amazing coach who is super helpful and loves working on on one to improve you as an athlete and a person off the field as well. "

"Over the years, Coach Coppola has been a great mentor and coach. I have enjoyed playing under her and still have a relationship even after my lacrosse career is over. I highly recommend her!"