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Eastern Illinois head baseball coach Jason Anderson has announced his coaching staff for the upcoming season as the Panthers will have several new faces in the dugout this season.
 
The Panthers 2019-20 coaching staff will including Ryan Cooper, Tim Brown, Kyle Floyd and Derek Francis.
 
Cooper was the volunteer assistant coach last season and was hired as a full-time staff member in late July.  Cooper will work with the Panthers hitters after helping the team hit .296 last season which ranked 26th in the NCAA.  Cooper helped coach Panthers All-American infielder Jimmy Govern who was selected in the 30th round of the MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals.  Cooper played college baseball at Maple Woods CC and Elon University.  Prior to joining the EIU staff as a volunteer, Cooper worked on the staff at Maple Woods CC and as a head coach in the Mid Plains Summer League.
 
Brown will serve as the pitching coach for the Panthers after spending the last three seasons as the pitching coach at South Carolina Upstate.  While at USC Upstate, Brown coached Blake Whitney, a 24th round selection by the Chicago Cubs.  Brown began his college coaching career in 2004 at Siena College and has had stops at Coppin State, Mount Saint Mary's, George Washington and Lincoln Memorial.  During his tenure Brown has had eight pitchers selected in the MLB Draft with another four signing professional contracts.   Brown played college baseball at Southeastern CC in Iowa and Lindenwood University (Mo.).
 
Floyd will help coach the Panthers catchers as the Windsor, Ill., native returns to the local area.  Floyd was a two-time All-National Trail Conference selection in high school before playing at Kaskaskia College and Lincoln Memorial College.  As a player he was twice named an All-South Atlantic Conference selection at LMU while earning NJCAA North District and Region 24 Catcher of the Year honors at Kaskaskia.  Floyd coached one year as a graduate assistant at Lincoln Memorial before several years as a volunteer coach at South Carolina Upstate.
 
Francis will serve as the Panthers Director of Baseball Operations.  He played college baseball at Iowa Western CC, Old Dominion University and Emporia State University.  Francis has worked as a coach in both the Northwoods League and Mid Plains League for summer baseball and was on the coaching staff at Emporia State when the team advanced to the NCAA Division II Regional.