With an impressive track record of improving hitters in just two years at the College of Charleston, Matt Heath made the move alongside John Pawlowski to Auburn in the summer of 2008, returning to the league where he was once a star at LSU in the early part of the decade.
An accomplished hitter in his own right, Heath made a major impact in his two seasons as the hitting coach at the College of Charleston after a brief professional career followed by two years coaching at Tallahassee Community College.
The hitting coach at College of Charleston, Heath helped the Cougar hitters rank 10th nationally in batting average (.334), first in runs scored per game (10.6), home runs (130) and slugging percentage (.607), second in runs (627) and doubles per game (2.73) and seventh in walks (328) in 2008.
His 2007 squad was just as impressive, leading the NCAA in batting average (.350), slugging percentage (.570) and runs scored per game (9.5), establishing six school records along the way: runs per game (9.5), slugging percentage (.570), RBI (513), home runs (92), runs scored (552) and hits (760), with five of those records being topped last season.
Heath joined Pawlowski at College of Charleston after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Tallahassee Community College where he worked with the catcher, infielders and hitters. The TCC team ranked in the top five in Florida both seasons in average (.322), home runs (92) and runs per game (7.7).
A native of Fernandina Beach, Fla., Heath attended Fernandina Beach high School where he was named the north Florida Player of the Year. After graduation he played at Florida from 1999-00 before transferring to LSU, playing in 2001-02.
At LSU, Heath was a two-time All-SEC Tournament selection, making the team as a catcher in 2001 and an outfielder a year later. In 2002, he led LSU in home runs (10) and runs scored (57). That season he was also selected to the NCAA Regional All-tournament Team at the Baton Rouge Regional.
After playing at LSU, Heath signed a pro contract and played in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization for two seasons before completing his degree at LSU and beginning his coaching career.