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As the calendar turns to 2024, the 20th anniversary season of Florida League baseball is moving closer and closer. As always this summer, players from around the nation will converge on central Florida to play for one of the FCSL's six teams. These players will have an opportunity to learn from coaches with decades of combined experience in high school, college, and professional baseball.

This season, four Florida League teams will see their head coach return from the 2023 season, while two franchises welcome new head coaches. These coaches are deep in preparation for the 2024 season, as only one of them will be able to hoist the Whiting Cup at the end of July.

Cameron Jergens, DeLand Suns
Florida League Experience: First Season

Cameron Jergens will be tasked with taking the Suns, who missed the playoffs in 2023, back to the top of the Florida League mountain for the first time since 2018. Jergens joins the Suns from Daytona State College, where he currently serves as an assistant coach for the Falcons alongside former Suns coach Matt Swiderski.

Prior to Daytona State College, Jergens spent two years on the coaching staff at Coker University, a NCAA Division II program in South Carolina. He also has several years of experience in the summer collegiate circuit, serving as a hitting coach for the Wilmar Stingers in the Northwoods League in 2017 and spending two years as a head coach for the St. Charles Captains in the Lewis & Clark Collegiate Baseball League in St. Louis, winning the league title in 2016.

Jergens is a graduate of North Carolina A&T, where he earned All Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference honors as a pitcher and infielder for the Aggies. He also was a MEAC All-Academic Selection. Prior to transferring to NCAT, Jergens was also a NJCAA Academic All-American Selection in 2012 for Daytona State.

Rich Billings, Leesburg Lightning
Florida League Experience: Thirteenth Season (Tenth as Head Coach)
Career Wins: 219 (First All-Time)
Championships: 2 (2021, 2023)

The winningest coach in Florida League history, Rich Billings will become just the second coach in league history, joining Rick Hall, to coach the same FCSL franchise for ten years. Billings hoisted his second Whiting Cup in 2023, leading the Leesburg Lightning to their second Cup in three years. Billings has built the Lightning into the league's powerhouse, going to the Florida League Championship Series in four consecutive seasons.

Billings became the winningest coach in Florida League history during the 2023 season, running his win total up to 218 during Leesburg's run to the league title. Billings has won 202 regular season games over nine seasons, good for a .589 career winning percentage. He is also the league leader in playoff wins, winning his 17th playoff game in Game 3 of the 2023 Florida League Championship Series.

During the FCSL offseason, Billings serves as the head baseball coach at Lake Sumter State College, where he played college baseball before continuing on to East Tennessee State. In his tenure there, the Lake Hawks have sent over 70 players to the four-year level in just seven seasons, with 20 of those heading to the Division I level. His coaching experience also includes time as an assistant coach at FAU and Lake-Sumter, as well as a year at Leesburg High School.

Jesse Litsch, Sanford River Rats
Florida League Experience: First Season

Winners of five Florida League championships, the Sanford River Rats will be coached by newcomer Jesse Litsch. Litsch brings an impressive resume to the dugout at Sanford Memorial Stadium, both as a player and a coach, and will look to guide the Sanford River Rats back to the Florida League Championship Series for the first time since 2020, the date of the Rats' last title.

Litsch played five years of Major League Baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays, appearing in 88 games mostly as a starting pitcher. He set a Toronto record in his debut by going 8.2 innings against the Baltimore Orioles. He also set a franchise record during the 2008 season, pitching 38 consecutive innings without walking a batter. Litsch pitched for the Blue Jays from 2007-2011, and announced his retirement in 2014.

Since retiring, Litsch has been a successful coach at several levels of baseball. He was the pitching coach for Team Phillipines in their 2016 World Baseball Classic qualifier, and joined the indepedent Bridgeport Bluefish that spring in the same position. He spent two seasons as a minor league coach in the Atlanta Braves organization, and spent the last two years as the manager of the Williamsport Crosscutters, a member of the MLB Draft League.

Terry Abbott, Orlando Snappers
Florida League Experience: Sixth season (Sixth as Head Coach)
Career Wins: 74 (Tenth All-Time)
Championships: 1 (2022)

Terry Abbott returns to the dugout of the Orlando Snappers in search of his second Florida League championship. Abbott was at the helm of one of the most dominant teams in Florida League history two seasons ago, leading the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs to the Whiting Cup in 2022. Now down the street, Abbott will look to become just the sixth Florida League coach to win two titles, and the fourth to do it with different franchises.

Before becoming the second-longest tenured head coach in the Florida League, Abbott traveled the baseball world. He spent time as a coach in the minor league systems of the Miami Marlins, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds, including four years as the scouting supervisor for Cincinnati. During his time in the minors, Abbott oversaw the development of dozens of future big leaguers.

He also has experience on the international level, serving as a pitching coach for the German national team in the qualifying round of the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He also spent five years early in his coaching career at the local level as the head coach of Boone High School in Orlando.

Jim Newlin, Winter Park Diamond Dawgs
Florida League Experience: Ninth season (Second as Head Coach)
Career Wins: 16
Championships: 2 as Assistant (2016, 2019)

Jim Newlin guided the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs to the Florida League semifinals in his first season as head coach, walking off on the Orlando Snappers in the play-in game before putting a scare in the league champion Leesburg Lightning in the semifinals. Newlin is in his ninth year with the league, with his first seven coming as an assistant for Chuck Schall, winning Florida League titles with the Altamonte Springs Boom in 2016 and the Diamond Dawgs in 2019.

Before his managerial career, Newlin was a relief pitcher at Wichita State, and a key piece of the 1989 National Championship team. Coach Newlin was drafted in the 12th round by the Seattle Mariners in 1989 and spent eight years in the minor leagues. He then moved into coaching, coaching locally in the prep ranks for Olympia High School and Lake Brantley High School.

Newlin's current job is on the Rollins College baseball staff, joining the Tars as a varsity assistant and the head of the junior varsity program in 2022. In Newlin's two years with Rollins, the Tars have advanced to back-to-back College World Series, advancing to the national championship game in 2023.

Mike McDaniel, Winter Garden Squeeze
Florida League Experience: Fifth season (Fifth as Head Coach)
Career Wins: 58

Under the stewardship of Mike McDaniel, the Winter Garden Squeeze had their best-ever season in 2023, sweeping the Sanford River Rats and advancing to the Florida League Championship Series for the first time in franchise history. After falling just one game short of the franchise's first title, McDaniel will look to bring the Squeeze back to the final series and finish the job in 2024.

McDaniel's coaching journey has seen stops at the professional, college, high school, and travel ball levels. Early in his career, he was an assistant for professional baseball teams the Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds and the Allentown Ambassadors. His college stops include five years at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, as well as a year as an assistant at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith.

In the state of Florida, McDaniel has been the head coach at Saint Cloud High School, Oak Ridge High School, Apopka High School, and Olympia High School, where he currently coaches. He also spends his summer as a coach for one of the premier travel ball organizations, coaching the FTB Phillies in the Florida Travel Baseball organization.