This month’s Alumnus of the Month spotlight belongs to

Michael Leotta, Class of 1998.

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Michael, son of Phillip and Joellen (Jodi) Leotta of Jacksonville, currently lives in Springfield, OH with his wife of 10 years, Megan, and their 7-year-old daughter, Ellery. Following his time at Routt Michael attended, and graduated from, Illinois State University, majoring in history with a minor in political science.

 

An avid golfer, it’s no surprise that Michael has built his career around the sport. He has spent time as an Assistant Men’s and Women’s Golf Coach at the University of Illinois-Springfield, an Assistant Women’s Golf Coach at Fresno State University, and since November 2017 has served as the Head Men’s and Women’s Golf Coach at Wittenberg University. Upon being hired, Wittenberg Director of Athletics Dr. Gary Williams said, “We are thrilled to have Michael join us. Michael brings a great mix of collegiate coaching experience coupled with a highly regarding professional teaching experience. We feel very confident that Michael has the passion, energy, and teaching background to keep Wittenberg golf competing at a high level now and into the future and are very much looking forward to seeing what Michael can do with the program.” The PGA Golf Professional is responsible for overseeing all aspects of both programs, programs that under Michael’s leadership have had much success on the national level since he joined them.

 

When asked about his time at Routt Catholic High School, Michael’s favorite memory is competing on the golf course with his friends; especially being that they made up the first IHSA golf team in school history. While golf was enjoyable, Michael is thankful that Routt helped to prepare him for his future. “There is no doubt my 4 years at Routt helped prepare me for life in the real world,” says Michael. “I was very fortunate to have a lot of people at Routt who cared about me and my growth as a person. My experiences at Routt helped me take the next step into college… I still look back to some of those days and recall the lessons I learned to help me every day.”

 

If you’re interested in following along with the success of Michael and the Wittenberg Tigers this season, feel free to follow him on Twitter, @michaelleotta.

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If you know of a Routt graduate who you would like to nominate as a future Alumnus of the Month, please email cdoyle@routtcatholic.com.