San Ramon Valley baseball coach mentions toxic conditions in his resignation

Tony Battilega, former San Ramon Valley coach of baseball, wrote a memo to the schools and sent it over the weekend to Bay Area News Group. He cited unsupportive administration, parent dishonesty, and his own mental health concerns as the reasons why he resigned last week. There were still three league games.

Battilega said in an interview that he did not make the decision to resign from a team ranked at 10th in the Bay Area News Group Top 20 without much thought and patience. He concluded that the environment was toxic and he could not continue.

According to the school district he resigned Thursday. Battilegas memo dates back to the previous day.

Cottrell forwarded an email sent by the Bay Area News Group to San Ramon Valley principal Whitney Cottrell, and to Greg Ochs, to a district spokesperson. Ochs confirmed that Battilega had resigned, but declined to give a reason.

We can’t share that due to privacy reasons, San Ramon Valley Unified School District spokesperson Ilana Israel Samuels wrote in an email, adding that the district heard that Battilega shared the reason publicly.

Battilega turned 55 last week. He said that he sent the memo directly to his team, but that it wasn’t posted on social media.

The memo said:

To Whom it May Concern

For the following reasons, I officially resigned from my position as head varsity coach at San Ramon Valley on Wed 4/27/22.

1. Unprofessional work environment, lacking the leadership and administrative support needed

2. Parents’ claims and chronic, unsubstantiated lies.

3. A hostile and unhealthy work environment can cause mental and physical health issues.

Battilega refused to give any details about his motivations, other than to say that he was talking about a small percentage parents.

He stated that it was not easy to make the decision to walk away.

Battilega, who was originally hired three years earlier by school administrators, said that it was extremely difficult. I thought about how to survive and manage the accusations off the field, as well as the stress of trying to win a league title and all that was involved. I am a very team-driven coach. With the accusations levelled at me, it became increasingly difficult to focus on these priorities and goals.

It finally came to a point where I realized that I couldn’t do this for myself. I couldn’t do it for my family, and it was probably not fair for the players. I had to get out of the season because I was not the coach I wanted to be.

The team’s assistants, Corey Linteo & Paul Gambs, will coach them for the remainder.