College of Charleston promotes Matt Heath to head baseball coach
College of Charleston pitching coach Matt Heath has been promoted to head baseball coach, Director of Athletics Joe Hull announced on Monday.
CofC will hold an official press conference to introduce Heath as head coach on
“Matt Heath is an outstanding leader,” Hull said. “When Matt was our hitting coach, CofC had a fantastic offense and led the nation in several offensive categories. Our pitching performance has been equally as remarkable. As a leader, he strives to help our team become better players, better students and better men. We are thrilled to introduce Matt Heath as our new head coach.”
Having served two coaching stints with the program under former head coaches John Pawlowski (2006-08) and Monte Lee (2011-Present), Heath boasts an impressive track record of coaching – enhanced by his professional experience as a player and scout.
One of the rare coaches in the country who has coached both hitting and pitching and had success on both sides of the ball, Heath has learned from the best in the game having played for two college coaches that have won a total of seven national championship titles in legendary LSU head coach Skip Bertman (5) and former Florida head coach Andy Lopez (2).
“Our baseball program is in terrific shape,” Hull said. “Maintaining continuity by hiring one of our terrific assistant coaches is the best way to continue and enhance our program.”
New Clemson coach and former CofC coach Monte Lee said: “The College of Charleston could not have made a better hire than Matt Heath. He is the best baseball guy that I know and is an excellent developer of talent. He is a tireless worker and a tireless recruiter. He will make everybody around him better and will lead the College of Charleston to many more championships. He is a man built on his principles and a family man as well. I could not be happier for one of my best friends in this business and for my alma mater.”
Heath, 36, recently completed his fifth year as CofC’s pitching coach developing a talented rotation that has compiled a cumulative ERA of 3.56 over the past five years. During the 2015 season, the Cougars achieved their second-highest national ranking (No. 13), won the regular-season CAA Championship title and made their third NCAA Regional appearance in the last four years.
In all, Heath has coached a National Freshman Pitcher of the Year, a consensus All-American, two Freshman All-Americans, a SoCon Pitcher of the Year, a CAA Pitcher of the Year and 13 all-conference pitchers. In addition, the CofC pitching staff led the Southern Conference in ERA in 2012 and 2013, and then set a new school record with an ERA of 2.73 in 2014, which ranked No. 18 in the nation. This past season, CofC led the CAA in ERA, shutouts, strikeout-to-walk ratio, WHIP and walks allowed per nine innings.
Among Heath’s pupils was 2015 consensus All-American Taylor Clarke, who led the pitching staff with one of the most decorated campaigns in program history. He tied for the national lead with 13 victories amassing a 13-1 record in 16 starts. Clarke boasted an impressive 1.73 ERA with opponents batting just .185 against him. Over the course of the year, he fanned a school-record 143 strikeouts to rank third in the nation, while limiting himself to just 14 walks for a 10.21 strikeout-to-walk ratio, the fourth-best in the country. Clarke became CofC’s highest-ever draft pick selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks as the first pick in the third round (76th pick overall).
Heath graduated from LSU with a bachelor’s degree in general studies in 2002 and later signed a pro contract and played for the Arizona Diamondbacks organization for two seasons. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have one daughter, Everett “EB” (2), and one son, Hagan (10 months).
This story was originally published June 22, 2015 at 10:47 AM with the headline "College of Charleston promotes Matt Heath to head baseball coach."