Coaches

Tony Caldwell joined the Florida Southern College baseball staff under head coach Rick O’Dette in July 2024. Caldwell most recently served as the head assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under O’Dette at Saint Leo University from 2021-2024 and was an assistant coach at NCAA Division I Kent State University before his time with the Lions.
 
While at Saint Leo, Caldwell helped coach the Lions to host NCAA South Region tournaments in 2022 and 2024, both program bests. The Florida native assisted SLU with three straight seasons of 30+ wins, including a top 10 ranking among NCBWA Division II during the 2024 season. Nearly a 20-year drought in NCAA appearances, Caldwell’s time as recruiting coordinator and head assistant coach lifted the Lions to the 2022 and 2024 regional tournaments and saw the program’s only All-American in Bobby Sparling (2022) and Luke Lashutka (2024).
 
Caldwell was a standout catcher at Auburn University where he played for the Tigers from 2008-2011. He was an All-SEC selection as a senior and posted several single-season top-10 records while at Auburn including in home runs, runs scored, RBI, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, at-bats, HBPs, and total plate appearance while finishing with a career .344 batting average. He was a finalist for the Johnny Bench Award in 2011, making him one of the top 13 collegiate catchers that season. He led the SEC with 23 runners caught stealing and was second among the 13 finalists in that category.
 
He was named to the Johnny Bench Award watchlist all four seasons at Auburn and led the nation in caught stealing percentage at 47 percent. He threw out 59 base runners during his time behind the plate which topped the record books at Auburn. He also has the honor of sharing two records with Bo Jackson including hit by pitches and total bases in a single game. His total bases record is 14 while he went 5-for-5 at the plate with three home runs and nine RBI versus Kentucky. He also shares the record for most runs in an SEC Tournament game at Auburn with Hall of Famer Frank Thomas at three. 
 
Caldwell competed for three different collegiate summer league teams throughout his time at Auburn including the Wareham Gateman squad in the prestigious Cape Cod League. In all three summers he was named an All-Star and was the team MVP for two of his three squads.
 
Following a tremendous collegiate career, he was drafted in the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft by the then-named Florida Marlins. Caldwell spent seven years in professional baseball, including three years as part of the Marlins organization.
 
While still competing in the professional ranks, Caldwell began his coaching journey during the offseason of 2014 and his first stop was with the East Alabama Aggies as an assistant coach with the 17U and 18U travel ball team which he coached for two seasons. He then made his way into the collegiate coaching ranks as a graduate assistant for his alma mater Auburn in 2016. After one season with the Tigers, he joined the coaching staff at Kent State where he spent three seasons from 2017-2020. During the summer of 2018, he spent a season coaching the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League as a hitting/catching coach.
 
While at Kent State he helped the Golden Flashes capture the 2018 MAC Regular Season Championship while advancing to the NCAA Tournament. He worked with several All-MAC performers, two All-Americans, and helped Tim Dalporto advance to being named a Johnny Bench Award Finalist. In 2018, he helped Kent State secure the 25th-ranked recruiting class according to the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, the first top-25 class in program history.
 
Caldwell graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Auburn University in 2016.

Mitchell Wydetic joined the Florida Southern College baseball staff under head coach Rick O’Dette in July 2024 after spending the last three seasons with O’Dette at Saint Leo University, working primarily with the infielders and assisting with hitting.
 
While at Saint Leo, Wydetic had a total of three All-South honorees and several All-SSC position players, including the program’s first All-American with Bobby Sparling in 2022. The Lions had 30+ wins in each of those three seasons and cracked the top 10 NCAA Division II poll on several occasions. While as the infield coach in 2022, SLU led the SSC in fielding percentage, and in 2024, the team set a new program record for fielding percentage.
 
Wydetic joined the Lions after two seasons at Saint Petersburg College as an assistant coach where he helped organize, schedule, and operate the daily practices while serving as the primary coach for the outfielders. He also served as the third base coach on game days, while helping coach Gabe Rincones, who was the 2021 Junior College Player of the Year and third round pick in the MLB Draft to the Philadelphia Phillies.
 
He is a 2019 graduate of the University of Florida where he served as the head student manager for the Gator baseball program from 2018-19. He would help coordinate game and practice procedures as well as help with away game travel necessities. Also helped execute prospect and summer camps to generate funds for the program.
 
Wydetic received his degree in political science with a minor in communications from the University of Florida while graduating cum laude.