Marymount University has named Frank Leoni as the inaugural head coach of its new baseball program, as announced by director of athletics Debbie Warren on Thursday.   Leoni has posted 462 career victories in 20 seasons as a Division I head coach.

The Saints will field a team to compete beginning with the 2014 season.

“Frank is the perfect coach to build our program here at Marymount,” Warren said. “He is a proven winner at high-caliber academic institutions and has the experience necessary to establish a program from the ground up.”

Leoni brings 20 years of head coaching experience to the Saints, most recently serving as the head coach at William & Mary from 2005-12.  Prior to his tenure with the Tribe, he was the head coach at his alma mater, Rhode Island, for 13 seasons from 1992-05. 

With the Tribe, Leoni posted 196 wins in seven seasons and was the fastest coach to reach 100 victories in program history.  He coached 24 All-Colonial Athletic Association honorees, the 2007 CAA Player of the Year as well as the 2011 and 2012 CAA Pitchers of the Year.  Six of his players garnered All-America honors and 10 earned All-Region accolades.

As a team, Leoni’s squads at W&M led the CAA in hitting in both 2007 and 2008 with the 2008 team ranking third nationally.  Is 2007, 2008 and 2010 teams topped the league in fielding while the 2012 Tribe led the CAA in ERA and ranked 14^th nationally.

Leoni took the helm at URI in September of 1992 as the youngest D-I head coach in the nation, inheriting a program that went 8-25-1 the year before and was set for elimination.  He turned the program around and won 266 games during his time in Kingston, a mark that still stands today.

Under Leoni, the Rams won the 2004 and 2005 Atlantic 10 regular season championships and the 2005 A-10 conference championship to lead URI to its only NCAA postseason berth in program history.  He was named the A-10 Coach of the Year in 2003 and 2004 and the New England Coach of the Year in 2004.

Leoni is still the all-time leader in coaching victories at URI with 266.  He was named to the Rhode Island Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2010.

A total of 25 players Leonia has recruited or coached at Rhode Island and William & Mary have been either drafted or signed free agent contracts to play professionally.  Two of his former assistants have gone on to successful head coaching careers, including Jad Prachniak at the helm of the 2012 Division II National Champions West Chester University and Adam Taylor at Franklin & Marshall.

Leoni graduated from Rhode Island with a B.S. in accounting in 1990 and earned his master's degree in Business Administration from URI in 2003.