“Lelo Prado is the absolute perfect fit for USF Baseball,” said USF Director of Athletics Doug Woolard. “We couldn’t be more pleased to bring home a local hero with such a strong track record of success.”

Prado, 43, joins USF from the University of Louisville, where in 11 seasons he became that school’s all-time winningest coach with 320 victories. In 18 seasons as a head coach, including seven at the University of Tampa and 11 at Louisville, Prado is 598-425-2 with two Division II National Championships (1992, 1993), eight NCAA appearances and three Division II World Series appearances. At Louisville, he took the program to its first-ever NCAA appearance in 2003 and he was the 2002 Conference USA Coach of the Year, the same year he won USA Baseball Coach of the Year honors.

During his 11 years at Louisville, Prado has seen 20 players (Matt Berger, Danny Haas, James McAuley, Jorge Maduro, Mike Davis, Brian Bentley, Sean Green, Chad Petty, Justin Woodrow, Bill Gatti Jr., Key Voshell, Adam Haley, Grant Williams, Josh Bolen, Carlos Fernandez, Ron Braun, Mark Jurich, Scott Barber, J.T. LaFountain and Brian Halford) make the pro ranks.

Before he was hired at Louisville in June of 1995, Prado spent seven seasons as the head coach at the University of Tampa. In his seven seasons at Tampa, Prado compiled a 278-124-1 record, the winningest record in UT’s history. He averaged nearly 40 wins a season. His .691 winning percentage ranks among the top 10 in Division II history. In addition to the two national championships, his teams also reached the College World Series in 1990, finishing third, and were an NCAA South Region finalist in each of his other four seasons as head coach (1989, 1991, 1994, 1995).

He was named the ABCA National Coach of the Year in 1992 and 1993, and he was the South Region Coach of the Year in 1990, 1992 and 1993. He also won conference coach of the year in 1989, 1990 and 1995 and was inducted into the Sunshine State Conference Hall of Fame in 1995. His number “1” jersey is retired at Tampa

Prado coached 17 first or second team All-America selections at Tampa, including national player of the year Sam Militello in 1990, two Academic All-Americans, 43 All-South Region picks and 32 All-Sunshine State Conference Selections.

During his tenure at Tampa, seven Spartans were drafted by major league clubs, nine of whom played pro ball and four have reached the major leagues, including Tino Martinez (Yankees), Jeff Carter (Chicago White Sox), Ozzie Timmons (Chicago Cubs) and Militello (Yankees).

Prado served as Assistant Athletic Director at Tampa, focusing on fund raising and community support coordination. Prado has also worked with the Nicaraguan National Baseball Team.

After playing two seasons at Hillsborough Community College, he completed his college career at the Tampa in 1985, where he earned a bachelors degree in adult fitness.

He was an assistant coach at Hillsborough one year (1985) before accepting a similar position at Tampa, where he worked as an assistant for three seasons (1986-88) prior to his advance