Richard Leonard, PhD is currently a Professor of Business Administration/Management at Flagler College in Tallahassee, Florida. His primary teaching focus is in Strategic Management with secondary instruction in Human Resource Management and Marketing. For eight years at Flagler, Dr. Leonard was the Department Chair for Business Administration and Accounting. His duties included curriculum improvement, complete human resource management of departmental faculty (full-time and adjunct), development of departmental initiatives, and participation in external departmental activities and promotions. In addition to his duties at Flagler College, Dr. Leonard was Distance Learning Faculty of Sports Management at the United States Sports Academy. His principal areas of instruction at USSA were in doctoral and graduate level courses in Strategic Management, Strategic Marketing, Human Resource Management, Event Planning, and Fundraising.
Dr. Leonard’s main academic professional development concentration over the past 14 years has been publishing textbooks. Leonard’s textbooks include Fundraising for Sport and Athletics (2nd Ed. 2016), Summer Sports Camps 101: A Guidebook for Development and Operation (2015), Principles of Sport Administration (2013), and The Administrative Side of Coaching: Applying Business Concepts to Athletic Program Administration and Coaching (3rd Ed. 2017). Additionally, he has written numerous articles in the field of sports administration. These articles, published by the American Volleyball Coaches Association—the governing body of the sport, encompass every aspect of sport management including planning, organization, human resource management, and strategic management.
Dr. Leonard earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Robert Morris University, an MBA in management from Florida Metropolitan University – Tampa College, and a PhD in management from Walden University. He has certifications in Strategic Management and Leadership from the American Management Association, as well as certifications in Professional Learning, Collaborative Learning, and Classroom Management.
Dr. Leonard’s professional knowledge and experience in sports administration is in the tangible, real-world development and operation of NCAA athletic programs. For six seasons, he was the Head Women’s Volleyball Coach at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Under his leadership as a head coach and program administrator, he led the team to a record of 144-69. His GSU team still holds the best winning percentage in school history at .676. He was named Trans American Coach of the Year in 2000, and the Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2003. The GSU program won five different conference titles during that period, as well as a multitude of post-season individual awards.
Prior to Georgia State, Dr. Leonard spent four seasons as Associate Head Coach at Saint Louis University. During his tenure at Saint Louis University, the Billikens developed into one of the best volleyball programs in the Midwest. SLU compiled a 91-59 mark, including a 29-10 record and a trip to the Volleyball National Invitational Tournament.
Dr. Leonard’s first coaching position was at the University of North Florida. The UNF Ospreys went to the NAIA National Championship in the first two years of intercollegiate competition. In the team’s first season as an NCAA Division II member, UNF gained a top 15 national ranking and a number 1 ranking in the Southeastern United States Region.
Dr. Leonard was a member and player in the United States Volleyball Association from 1980 to 1997 and was AA rated. He was on four USVB regional championship teams and seven USVB semifinalist and finalists. During his playing career, his teams have won more than 125 tournaments and league championships.
Dr. Leonard served as a USVBA Regional Tournament Director and Regional Marketing Director. He is US Volleyball CAP Level II certified and US Volleyball Critical Thinking Seminar certified. He also has his ACEP certification.
Dr. Leonard’s professional career has encompassed four managerial occupations, beginning with hotel and restaurant management, community center administration, athletic program administration and coaching, and academic administration. His supervisory positions in each occupation have had extensive human resource management duties. Aspects such as human resource planning, job designing and job description development, recruiting and selecting new employees, onboarding and new employee orientation, personnel training, and employee assessment are just a few of the human resource management functions he has been involved with throughout his professional career.
