HEAD VARSITY COACH ROBBIE ZIMMERMAN

Coach Zimmerman began his coaching career at cross-town Godby High School in 1989, where he also taught math. During his tenure there, he was involved with both the football and baseball programs. With Coach Zimmerman as head coach, the Godby JV football team won the city championship three consecutive years, amassing a 21-1 record. Coach Zimmerman then became the offensive coordinator for the Varsity football team, helping them reach the playoffs 7 out of the last 11 years. Before becoming the head baseball coach, he guided the Junior Varsity Baseball team to a 49-22 record over his first three years at Godby.

In 1993, Coach Zimmerman took over the baseball program as head coach and during his 18 year tenure, Godby amassed an overall record of 342-178. The Cougars also won three District Championships, reached the state playoffs 8 out of the last 13 years and won the Class 4A State Championship in 2001.

He was the Tallahassee Democrat’s Coach of the year in 2000, 2001 and 2002. He was also named as the Florida Dairy Farmer’s State Baseball Coach of the Year in 2001 and served as the State’s FACA All-Star Head Coach in 2004.

Coach Zimmerman has also led his summer AAU baseball team, the Tallahassee Baseball Club, to an overall record of 534-237. They have finished in the top eight nationally, 11 times in the last 18 years, and won the AAU 18-U National Championship in 2003 and again in 2006, becoming only the 2nd team in AAU history to repeat as champions. Through Godby and TBC, 176 of his players have gone on to play college level and beyond.

Coach Zimmerman, after growing up locally in Tallahassee, graduated from Wakulla High School in 1984, where he lettered in both football and baseball. He went on to play baseball at St. John's River Community College and received his AA degree in 1986. Afterwards, he graduated from Florida State University in 1990 with a BS in Finance.

After meeting his lovely wife Pam in 1989 while they both worked at the then popular Brown Derby Restaurant in Tallahassee, they were subsequently married in 1990 and are currently raising three beautiful children, Tyler (18), who is currently a freshman at the Univ. of West Florida, Lanie (16), a junior at Godby, and Blake (14), a freshman here at Leon.
Ryan Pennington, Varsity Assistant Coach

Ryan Pennington begins his 5th season at Leon High School as an Assistant Varsity Baseball Coach.


Coach Pennington also served as an assistant coach of the Leesburg Lightning in the Florida Collegiate Summer League in 2007 and 2008.  In the 2007 inaugural season, the Lightning won the FCSL championship. 


Pennington played his collegiate baseball at Flagler College from 2002-2005 where he obtained a BA Degree in Sports Management. Upon graduation, he moved to Tallahassee to serve his internship with the Florida Sports Foundation and earned his teaching certification.  He currently teaches students in the credit retrieval program at Leon High School.


Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Pennington attended Bishop Kenny High School.  In his junior year, Bishop Kenny advanced to the final game of the FHSAA 4A Championship Baseball Game at Legends Field in Tampa, Florida.    

He and his wife Emily were married in December 2008. 









Robby Read, Varsity Assistant Coach
 Robby Read begins his 3rd season as the Leon Lions Pitching Coach and Varsity Assistant. He is a 1999 graduate of Leon High School and a four-year starter on the baseball team. The hard-throwing all-around athlete played several positions before becoming a pitcher and led the Lions to a state championship in 1998. Upon graduation in 1999, Coach Read joined the Florida State Seminoles.

A three-year starter, he logged several memorable outings, including complete game one-hitters versus Jacksonville University two years in a row. Coach Read secured a place on the All-Tournament Team following his lights out performance in the 2000 Regional Championship game against the University of Central Florida, in which he logged his third complete game one-hitter. The stellar outing was followed up by a win versus Miami in the Super Regional Championship to send Florida State to the College World Series. Coach Read pitched in legendary Rosenblatt Stadium in the semifinal game versus the University of Southern California. Following his freshman year, Coach Read played summer ball with the Torrington Twisters, where he faced the U.S.A. team and struck out ten batters in five innings. Notable opponents included Mark Texiera, Ryan Howard and Mark Prior. He spent his summers in various other advanced leagues, including the famed Cape Cod League in 2001. The hard worker was also named FSU baseball's Top Conditioned Athlete each of his three years at Florida State.  

Coach Read was selected in the 7th round of the 2002 draft by the Philadelphia Phillies. A top 30 prospect for the club, he was invited to play in the fall league for evaluation by Phillies' coaching staff. Coach Read also played independent baseball with the Frontier and Northern Leagues. In his fourth professional season he pitched a complete game shutout to send his team to the league playoffs and on to the championship. He spent most of his career between A and AA leagues, even logging several innings in AAA. After five seasons of professional baseball, his career ended abruptly with a shoulder injury in August 2005.

Coach Read is a graduate of Florida State University and a world history teacher at Leon High School. He was married in January 2008 to fellow Florida State alumni Emily Read.
Dwayne Moore, Junior Varsity Head Coach

Coach Dwayne Moore enters his 6th year as coach at Leon and his second as the Head Junior Varsity Coach. An 1989 graduate of Leon High, Coach Moore lettered in basketball and baseball his junior and senior years, where he was a two year starter in both sports and a member of the 1988 District Runner-up Baseball team. In 1988, He won the batting award (.455 average) and led the team in stolen bases (45). As an outfielder, He was chosen as a member of the All-Big Bend team in 1988 and 1989 and ended his career with a .432 average and a remarkable 80 stolen bases in 82 attempts. He also holds the record for most stolen bases in a game at Leon (10 vs. Brooks County, GA). After high school, Coach Moore played collegiately at FAMU, where he led the Rattlers in steals (48) and on base percentage (.754) in 1990. He continues to work with the FAMU baseball program throughout the year.

Coach Moore started at Leon as an assistant coach with the Freshman team in 2004. In 2005, He left the program to become the head coach of FAMU Developmental Research School, where the program had a 12-8 record in it's first year of baseball in over ten years. He returned to the program a year later to become the Head Coach of the Freshman team.

As a player, he has the distinct honor of being the only black player in the history of the program to lead the team in batting (1988). As a coach, he is the only black coach to lead any team in the program's history.

Personally, Coach Moore is the proud parent of three boys, DeAndre (18), Malik (14), and Dwan (7).

Herb Moore, Junior Varsity Assistant Coach

Coach Herbert Moore enters his 1st year as a baseball coach for the Lions. A 1986 graduate of Titusville High School in Titusville, Fl, he lettered 4 years in football. As a starter for 3 years, he helped the Terriers win two 3A state titles. An all-conference, all-district player in his sophomore, junior season and an all-state performer in his senior season. Voted as one of the top 100 players in the southeast and played in the North/South game  in Bradenton Florida. Coach Moore also lettered Track & Field all 4 years and was a member of the 1983 State Runner-Up and as a senior was on the all-state team.  Because of his athletic talents; Coach Moore earned a full scholarship to FAMU. He lettered 4 years in football and 1 year in Track & Field. He graduated with the B.S. in Criminal Justice.  

Coach Moore began his coaching career in 1994 at his alma mater as coach on the scout squad. He later became a Defensive Line Coach at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Ga. before returning to FAMU as the defensive line coach.  He was also the Defensive Line Coach and Head Baseball Coach at Lane College in Jackson, Tn. In 2005 Coach Moore left FAMU to become the defensive coordinator at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga.  

Personally, Coach Moore is the proud father of two sons. Robert (17) a senior at Rickards and a member of the varsity football and baseball teams and Malik (7) is a 1st grader at Conley Elementary who wants to follow in his big brothers footsteps. 


 
Caleb Lanier, Freshman Head Coach

Coach Caleb Lanier enters his first season as the Leon Lions head Freshman coach.  He is a 1995 graduae of Apalachicola High School and was a four year starter on the varsity as a catcher.  He won 3 defensive MVP awards, was voted permanent team captain as a senior, and was also voted to the All Big Bend team.  Lanier went on to Gulf Coast Community College where an injury ended his playing career.  Lanier was the head JV coach at Robert F. Munroe in 2009 where he led them to the best record in school history.  He also is a head coach in the Babe Ruth senior league.
Jason Vogt, Freshman Assistant Coach

Jason begins his fourth season coaching with the Leon baseball program and teaches in the ESE Dept. at Leon.  Jason is originally from Maryland where he was a three year starter on the baseball team.

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