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As players descend upon Central Florida for the summer, they have one goal in mind … improve their game so they can be ready for the next school year. The most influential person in the lives of our players each summer is the head coach. The Florida League has a rich tradition of skippers leading their teams each season. Former coaches include MLB veterans Frank Viola (Leesburg), Davey Johnson (DeLand & Sanford), and Eddie Taubensee (Winter Garden), as well as decorated college coaches like Dave Therneau (Leesburg), who was named the 2018 NCAA Assistant Coach of the Year at Stetson.

For the upcoming season, fans in DeLand, Leesburg and Winter Park will see familiar faces while the teams in Sanford, Seminole and Winter Garden will have a new leader in the dugout. Let’s meet the men who will coach each team in 2019.

Rick Hall, DeLand Suns

Florida League Experience: 10th Season

Career Wins: 171 (2nd All-Time)

Championships: 2 (2012, 2018)

In 2018, Rick Hall did a phenomenal job recruiting a competitive team. The Suns were in the top half of the league in almost every offensive and defensive category, with the result being a Florida League championship. Coach Hall is the longest tenured head coach in the Florida League, entering his tenth season as skipper (all with the Suns). He currently sits at 171 career victories, good for the second-most in League history. If the Suns are able to put together 25 wins this summer, he will claim the top spot from three-time champion skipper Kevin Davidson. He is also one of only three coaches to have more than one League championship under his belt (Davidson, Steve Piercefield).

During his time with the Suns, Coach Hall has had a plethora of talent in his dugout. In his first season in 2010, reigning National League Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom donned the orange and black before being drafted by the Mets. In 2014, current Baltimore Orioles OF Austin Hays took home league MVP honors. This past summer, LHP Jesus Valoy tied a Florida League record with a flawless 9-0 record (including playoffs) and was named an Honorable Mention Summer Collegiate All-American by Baseball America.

Outside of the Florida League, Coach Hall’s baseball resume includes playing at Berkshire Community College (MA), and Stetson University, where he finished 9th in the NCAA in strikeouts during his junior year in 1978. After a shoulder injury derailed his career, he was hired as pitching coach for the Hatters and held the position for 18 years. In 1998, he left Stetson and was the founding father of the Daytona State College baseball program. When he isn’t coaching for the Suns, Hall serves as the Director of Parks and Recreation for the city of DeLand.

Rich Billings, Leesburg Lightning

Florida League Experience: 7th Season (5th as Head Coach)

Career Wins: 94 (6th All-Time)

The Leesburg Lightning dominated the first half of the Florida League season in 2018, including winning a record 14 games in a row in June. Leesburg tallied 28 wins last summer, good for the 3rd most all-time and a #1 seed in the playoffs. Though the Lightning fell in the first round, Coach Billings’ squad was incredibly successful, placing six players on the All-League first team and four of the Top 10 Pro Prospects.

Coach Billings returns for his fifth year as manager of the Lightning. In his first four years as skipper, Billings has never had a losing record, and has averaged 23.5 wins per season (including playoffs). He has also taken the helm of the Florida League Prospect team each of the past two summers, posting a 2-1-1 record against other collegiate leagues.

Despite being the youngest coach in the Florida League, Billings has a resume that stands up to anyone’s. Billings was actually a member of the inaugural 2007 Lightning team as an assistant coach. After the summer, he was hired as the head coach of Lake Sumter State College at the age of 23, making him the youngest head coach in the country. He guided the Lakehawks for five seasons before accepting a position with Florida Atlantic University in 2013. He helped the Owls to a Sunbelt Conference Championship and a berth in the College World Series Regional. Billings left FAU in 2014, and spent a year as head coach at his alma mater Leesburg High School. He then reclaimed his old gig at Lake Sumter in 2015, where he currently serves as head coach.

Josh Montero, Sanford River Rats

Florida League Experience: 4th Season (1st as Head Coach)

Though this will be his first season as a head coach, Josh Montero is no stranger to the Florida League. Over the previous three summers, Montero has served as an assistant to Kevin Davidson and Scotty Makarewicz, who rank first and third, respectively, on the League’s all-time wins list, and have four championships between them. As the hitting coach for the River Rats each of the past two seasons, Montero has guided the Rats to the most hits (648), home runs (42), best batting average (.268) and the second most runs scored (401) across the league. 

Montero was a highly-regarded draft prospect from New York in the mid-1990s, receiving an offer to play baseball at the University of Tennessee. After a knee injury shortened his playing career, Montero switched to the coaching side of things. Over the past decade, he was had roles as an assistant coach at Spencerport High School in New York and Orangewood Christian in Maitland, Florida. He also has experience coaching in the renowned FTB travel ball organization, and founded his own club, the Central Florida Vipers. In the offseason, Josh is a mortgage specialist.

Bob Rikeman, Seminole County Scorpions

Florida League Experience: 2nd Season

Career Wins: 19

Coach Rikeman led the transition of the Altamonte Springs Boom into the Scorpions in 2017. His team finished second in the regular season standings that year, and boasted the league batting champ (Trace Thornal), Cy Young Winner (David Litchfield) and Top Pro Prospect (Garrett Zech). With his connections to baseball programs, and personal experience as a college recruiter, the stakes are set pretty high for the Scorpions in 2019.

Rikeman has been involved with college athletics for many years. Aside from head coaching positions at Framingham State (MA) and Newberry College (SC), he also served as the head coach of Rollins College in Winter Park from 1994-2005. During his tenure, the Tars posted a 349-250 record. In 2004, he led the Tars to a 48-12 mark and a fourth place finish at the Division II World Series. That year, he was named Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year, as well as ABCA South Region Coach of the Year. Rikeman is no stranger to the Florida League or its staff; during his time at Rollins, he coached League President Stefano Foggi, League Commissioner Rob Sitz, and former coach Kevin Davidson. Sitz and current Winter Park head coach Chuck Schall also served as assistants to Rikeman during his time at Rollins. Rikeman is the owner of the nationally recognized Scorpions travel ball program, based out of Longwood, FL.

Terry Abbott, Winter Garden Squeeze

Florida League Experience: 1st Year

Terry Abbott is entering his first season of involvement with the Florida League. That being said, he probably has the most time at the ballfield of any coach in the league. His career began when he was selected in the 15th round of the 1977 MLB draft as a pitcher out of Jacksonville State. He saw success in the Braves’ minor league system before moving on to coaching in 1981. He returned to his alma mater under the role of pitching coach for two seasons before accepting a job as the head coach at Boone High School in Orlando. After half a decade with the Braves, he spent most of the 1990s as a coach in the Pirates and Reds minor league system. Then, from 2001-2004, the Reds named Abbott their scouting supervisor. Coach Abbott was also the pitching coach for the German National Team during their World Baseball Classic pool play games..

During his time in the minors, Abbott oversaw the development of dozens of future big leaguers, including former Squeeze head coach Eddie Taubensee. His decades of experience will help Winter Garden improve on their 14-win season from last year.

Chuck Schall, Winter Park Diamond Dawgs

Florida League Experience: 7th Year (4th as Head Coach)

Career Wins: 67 (9th All-Time)

Championships: 2016 (Altamonte Springs)

There are a few constants in life. The sun will rise. It rains in the summer. And, if Chuck Schall is your head coach, you are going to the Florida League championship game. After posting a mediocre 18-20 regular season record last summer, Schall led the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs on a Cinderella run through the playoffs. They survived the play-in game against Seminole County, defeated the #1 seed Leesburg Lightning in three games, and then took the DeLand Suns to the brink of defeat in a three-game championship series. It was the third time in three years that a Schall-led team made the final round of competition.

Coach Schall has averaged 22 wins over the past three years, and routinely runs a talented team on to the field. He has had the league leader in home runs each of the past two seasons (Jacob Katzfey, Jacob Teter), and five of his players have been drafted in the last two years, including 5th rounder Codi Heuer. 

Coach Schall has an extensive baseball background that spans multiple decades in Central Florida. Schall was a player at Flagler College from 1982-85. He was named to the 1980s All-Decade team at the school, and currently ranks 5th all-time in school history in walks. Once his playing days ended, Schall moved on to coaching, where he has seen success at every level. His coaching resume includes stints with UCF, Rollins College, Ocoee High School, and Olympia High School. After taking over the Olympia program in 2013, Coach Schall helped the Titans to a #1 national ranking and an undefeated regular season in 2015. During his three years as head coach at Olympia, Schall has had two first round MLB draft picks (Nick Gordon and Juan Hillman), as well as more than a dozen college commitments.