Prado Resigns To Accept USF Baseball Position
June 16, 2006 | Baseball
June 16, 2006
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Lelo Prado, head baseball coach at the University of Louisville for the past 11 years, has resigned to accept a similar position at the University of South Florida.
"We really appreciate everything Lelo did as our baseball coach," said Tom Jurich, Vice President and Director of Athletics. "He's a terrific person who built a lot in his 11 years here. On a personal level, I watched him develop my son Mark (an All-America outfielder at U of L in 2002) from a boy into a very strong young man. The success Mark has had is a tribute to all of the hard work he put in under Lelo's guidance. We're happy for Lelo and his family as they return to his hometown of Tampa. USF got a great coach who's a great fit there. We'll be aggressive in our search for a new baseball coach, who will inherit a solid program with a wonderful new facility."
Prado exits as the winningest coach in U of L history with a 320-302-1 record in his 11 seasons, which included seven years with over 30 victories. The 2002 USA Baseball Coach of the Year, Prado guided the Cardinals to their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid in 2002 when U of L won a school-record 39 games.
Before joining the U of L staff, Prado guided the University of Tampa -- his alma mater -- to two NCAA Division II national titles in his seven years as head coach there. He was the catcher on Tampa Catholic's state championship team in 1979 as a high school sophomore.
The Cardinals closed this season with a 12-game winning streak before falling in the championship game of the BIG EAST Conference Championship, posting a 31-29 record with a third-place regular season finish (17-10) in U of L's initial year in the BIG EAST.
