The Bay Area Examiner has learned that USF received complaints from players and staff regarding the actions of USF beach volleyball head coach Pri Piantadosi-Lima during her time in Tampa and the athletic department opened an investigation into the allegations. The NCAA is also investigating potential violations regarding practice time as well. Piantadosi-Lima resigned on May 15 instead of being fired as a result.
USF Beach Volleyball@USF_BeachVB
8:47 PM · May 15, 2026 · 31.9K Views
5 Replies · 7 Reposts · 64 Likes
The resignation earlier this month caught many by surprise after what seemingly was a very successful first season for the newly-formed team. The Bulls were 21-15 in their inaugural season, winning two matches in the Conference USA Tournament, and knocking off No. 20 Tulane early in the year.
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, Piantadosi-Lima consistently verbally and mentally abused players. This included saying “shut the f*ck up” and “grow the f*ck up” after finding out there was a players-only meeting on the best way to bring up their concerns to Piantadosi-Lima.
The head coach then called her own team meeting to yell at the players for doing this behind her back.
Among other concerns mentioned to The Bay Area Examiner by sources close to the team were the head coach repeatedly being late to practice, the airport, team buses, and even to the courts at tournaments. During practices Piantadosi-Lima was described as not engaged fully, and it was up to players to ask for help or pointers. When concerns were brought to other staffers, they were told “she’s just a laid back coach and that’s how she does things.”
It appears the NCAA violations are surrounding the practice times for the Bulls, which limits athletically-related activities to 20 hours a week for all players. While the Bulls will have their on facility on campus soon, they’ve had to bus down to McDugald Park in Seminole Heights about 20 minutes away.
According to one source a team punishment for being late, having the wrong colored shirt, shorts, etc was to sit for 20 minutes in silence on the ground at practice. Every subsequent violation added five minutes. For some, the silent punishments got up to nearly an hour.
As this was happening at practice, the way Piantadosi-Lima and her coaches got around the NCAA countable practice hours rule would be to sit in their cars until the timer ran out, then start practice. They then claimed since they weren’t on the sand, practice would not have started. The team would then go on to have a full practice session.
Piantadosi-Lima and USF did not respond to requests for comments. A public records request to USF Athletics for any internal investigation documents and Piantadosi-Lima’s resignation/termination letter was made on May 16, but has still not been fulfilled.
