Terry Abbott Named Florida League Coach of the Year
SANFORD, Fla.- The list is not long, and features a who's who of Florida League coaches.
Stephen Piercefield. Kevin Davidson. Rick Hall. Chuck Schall. Rich Billings. And now, Terry Abbott.
As head coach of the 2025 Florida League champion Orlando Snappers, Terry Abbott became just the sixth head coach in Florida League history to win multiple championships. For his efforts, Abbott has been named the 2025 Florida Collegiate Summer League Coach of the Year. The award is given annually to the head coach of the Florida League champions.
The 2025 championship was the second in the last four seasons for Abbott, who was also the head coach of the 2022 Winter Park Diamond Dawgs. Of the six head coaches to win multiple titles, Abbott is the fourth to win championships with two different clubs. The 2025 season was Abbott's seventh in the Florida League, with three seasons spent with the Winter Garden Squeeze, one with the Diamond Dawgs, and now three with the Snappers.
From the beginning of the season, the Abbott's Snappers looked like a team with real Florida League championship aspirations. The Snappers led the Florida League in home runs with 26, and had a league-best .393 slugging percentage. The pitching staff did not lag far behind, with Orlando pitching allowing a league-low 138 walks and ranking second in the league with a team earned run average of 4.22.
The playoffs came early for the Orlando Snappers, who needed a win on the final day of the season to claim home-field advantage in the FCSL Semifinals. The Snappers did just that on the road, erasing an early 2-0 deficit to the Leesburg Lightning by scoring seven unanswered runs in a 7-3 win, a result that would prove to be a sign of things to come.
After securing home field, the Snappers were now charged with a task that hadn't been accomplished since 2019 - keeping Leesburg out of the Florida League Championship Series. Abbott's club won Game 1 at home before dropping Game 2 on the road, setting up a winner-take-all Game 3. In that Game 3, the Snappers put up six runs in the bottom of the first and never looked back, claiming an 8-5 win to punch their ticket to the Florida League Championship Series.
Against the heavily favored Sanford River Rats in the FLCS, the Snappers offense was unstoppable. Orlando set a Championship record with 18 hits in an 8-3 win in Game 1, then finished off the River Rats by putting up another eleven runs in Game 2, completing the first Championship Series sweep by a lower seed since the 2020 season.
This week, the Florida League will be unveiling our yearly award winners. The schedule of awards is as follows:
Monday: Coach of the Year
Tuesday: David Eckstein Sportsmanship Award
Wednesday: Reliever of the Year
Thursday: Player of the Year
Friday: Pitcher of the Year
Saturday: All-Florida League
Sunday: Randy Harvey Umpire of the Year