Leo grew up in Massachusetts where he began playing high school baseball at Housac Valley High School. After high school, Kalinowski attended the University of Massachusetts. From 1977-79, he was a NCAA Division I starting third baseman for U-Mass. In his senior season he helped lead them to a NCAA National Tournament berth. After graduating with a degree in Sports Management, he continued his baseball career playing in a semi-pro league in New Brunswick, Canada. In 1980, he traveled to Amsterdam, Holland to play for three years. While in Holland he helped coach youth baseball and developed an interest in coaching.
In 1986, Leo took a job as an Acquisitions Manager at the Patten Corporation and moved to Madison, WI. In the fall of 1992, he approached, then athletic director, Jack Brenegan, about the possibility of gaining coaching experience by helping out with the MATC baseball team. As it worked out, the job was just recently vacated as the previous coach had just left for a job with the Milwaukee Brewers. Leo was hired and became the program’s new head baseball coach.
The new head coach learned on the job in his first season as a head college baseball coach. His team went 24-14 in that first season, winning WTCC conference and WJCAA state titles. Within three years, Leo’s work ethic and competitive drive would take the MATC Baseball Program to the pinnacle of Division III junior college baseball. In 1995, MATC won their first of three consecutive NJCAA Division III National Titles under Leo’s guidance. His teams made a total of five national championship appearances. They finished third in 1994 and fourth in 1999 in addition to the three NJCAA National Championships in 1995, 1996 and 1997. In all, his teams claimed twelve conference, eleven state, and seven NJCAA region championship titles. Coach Kalinowski coached twelve All-Americans, six major league draftees, and placed numerous athletes in top NCAA baseball colleges across the country.
Leo earned three NJCAA National Coach-of-the-Year awards and seven Region Coach-of-the-Year awards while his team tallied an incredible 414-169-3 record in twelve seasons. His coaching record currently ranks as the highest winning percentage of any baseball coach in MATC history.
“The MATC Baseball program achieved astounding success due to the efforts of Coach Kalinowski. When you have quality players and a quality coach you have a recipe for success,” said former MATC Director of Athletics, Jack Brenegan. “The time and effort he put forth in the recruitment of student-athletes and then in the development of those athletes was astounding. He established MATC baseball as a perennial national power.”
MATC Director of Athletics, Steve Hauser said, “Leo's passion for the game is incredible. He would accept nothing but a 100% effort and commitment from himself, as well as his players. I know that it was incredibly difficult for Leo to step down from his head baseball coaching position at MATC, but he had to because of the principles by which he coached - that of giving total commitment and effort. The success that his teams achieved is unparalleled in the history of MATC Athletics. He set the bar.”
After spending time as the general manager of the McKeough Land Company, in Arden, North Carolina; Leo returned to the school he helped put in the national spotlight. Kalinowski is currently the Madison College head softball coach and is the department's Academic Advisor. Leo has held these two positions since 2011.
Coach Kalinowski lives with his wife Sara and his three children, Connor, Kennedy and Joshua in Stoughton, WI.
