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When Monte Lee found his dream job at Clemson, the College of Charleston didn’t have to look far for his successor.
Matt Heath, a former player at Florida and LSU who coached at Charleston under John Pawlowski and Lee, was tabbed for his first head coaching job.
When Heath was an assistant for Pawlowski from 2006-08, he was in charge of the Cougars’ hitters and joined Pawlowski at Auburn. Under Lee, he guided the Cougars’ pitchers. In between was an influential year as a scout in the Houston Astros organization.
You had the chance to join Monte Lee at Clemson or take over the Charleston program. What went into the decision?
Tough decision but a few things helped. 1. My wife really loves Charleston. Both my kids were born here. Even though I have moved a lot in my coaching career, the past five years this has become home to us. We love Charleston and CofC. 2. I have been both a hitting coach and pitching coach. I also scouted for a year. I’m 36 soon to be 37 and felt like if I ever want to be a head coach why not start now at place I helped establish. 3. I recruited a lot of these players and when Monte left, I felt like it was my responsibility to help take care of them now. It’s tough on players to totally have changes in coaching. I’ve got strong relationships with a bunch of these guys, and we have unfinished business. 4. The last two years we have had great runs, but it ended short of what I believe CofC and the players can accomplish. We believe we can go to Omaha and compete for a national championship.
You’ve been both a hitting coach, first at Charleston and then at Auburn, and you later became a pitching coach at Charleston. Describe how that came about and how your time as a scout helped you as a coach.
This was a transition period for me and hard to explain. God knew what he was doing, I was just along for the ride. I can say that this helped me grow and develop in a number of ways. When I got into scouting, I had a firm grasp on the hitting side. All I did was pay attention to hitters’ swings and the defense. My focus on baseball was through the eyes of a position player. When I started scouting I had to make major changes and adjustments because I had to pay more attention to the pitching side of things. I could define the swing of multiple big leaguers but couldn’t do this with the pitchers. One of the things I changed was how I watched the game. So I began to spend all my time focusing on the game through the pitcher. Then I started to spend lots of time watching MLB pitchers on video. This helped me a tremendous amount with deliveries, arm actions, learning what really commanding pitches meant, and what’s a good offspeed pitch.
How are you similar to Coach Lee? How are you different?
Monte and I have very similar views of how the game should be played the right way. We want players that will work hard and give great effort. Our practices are run around this. We also recruit and look for the same types of players. Tougher to answer this because there was not a lot of differences. One I noticed early when I started to work for him that’s said a lot in coaching is treat all your players the same. Monte was very good at not doing this. He had an uncanny way of understanding that players need messages delivered in different modes. He knew the guys that needed a softer more encouraging voice or a tougher louder voice. When we started working together I was more of the “all the same.” I admired this about him and thought it worked better, so I changed. The biggest difference now really is how much better a deer hunter I am than he is!
What are some of your immediate goals for the Cougars?
First I want them to be committed, give great effort and exude mental toughness. Then I want them to focus and compete to winning every single pitch of the game that day.
What are some of your strengths entering the season?
The pitching side has a lot of different looks. Guys with different slots, more left-handed pitchers than we have had in the past, and we can play some match-ups late. Also we have two workhorses and the captains in Nathan Helvey and the return of Bailey Ober. On the position player side this team is very athletic and a number of these guys can play all over the field. There is a good balance of speed and power. Our offense can win games a number of ways whether it’s a big HR, grinding out ABs, stealing a bag or moving runners with situational hitting.