Former USF star and major-leaguer Chris Heintz has left his new job as manager of the Gulf Coast League Twins to return to the Bulls as Lelo Prado's hitting coach.

Heintz, 35, made his managing debut just Monday, winning his debut but losing the next five games. He reached the majors with the Twins as a catcher in 2005, playing 34 games over the next three seasons. He retired in 2008 and moved into coaching last summer, spending the second half of the season as the hitting coach of the Beloit Snappers, another Twins affiliate.

"We had a number of good candidates for this position, but Chris Heintz stood out above them all," Prado said in a statement. "Our players will benefit from his experience in professional baseball, both as a player and a coach. Chris has a good demeanor and will be a great teacher. And most importantly, he is an alumnus of the program. He is passionate about USF baseball, and he will make an immediate impact on our program."

Prado had an opening after his batting coach of four years, Bryant Ward, left to take the same job at Loyola Marymount in California.

"I am very excited about coming back to USF," Heintz said in a statement. "It's a special opportunity to be able to help the program that I was a part of as a player. I am very grateful to Coach Prado for bringing me home to the Bulls family."

Heintz graduated from USF in 1998 and still holds USF's season records with 106 hits and 95 RBIs, both set in 1996. He shares another Bulls mark, having hit three home runs in one game, against N.C. State that same year. In his four seasons at USF (1993-96), the Bulls averaged 41 wins, the second-best four-year mark in the program's 44-year history. USF made the NCAA regionals three times in his four seasons -- the Bulls have been back three times in the 14 seasons since, with no appearances since 2002.

Having worked in Fort Myers in his Twins job, coming back to USF brings him back with his family in Tampa -- his wife Stacey is an assistant coach on USF's softball team.

-- USF has lost another alum from its coaching ranks, as volleyball assistant Michelle Collier, the former Conference USA Player of the Decade and only retired jersey in Bulls volleyball history, as left Claire Lessinger's staff to take a job on the staff at South Carolina. Collier was with the Bulls for two seasons. The Gamecocks went 14-16 last season, with a 5-15 mark in the Southeastern Conference.