(Jacksonville) — Ken Hannahs, the again-christened GM of the beloved Florida Featherheads, has returned with a flourish of excitement emanating from the Featherheads stadium for his introductory press conference. “I’m excited to be back,” Hannahs, 32, stated. “For me, being here feels like home.”

Canny observers will remember that Hannahs made his way through the Featherheads organization, starting as a lowly high school scout before climbing the ranks to the eventual GM position with the team. His moves from his original tenure with the team were largely considered successful leading to the PEBA championship in 2025, although several were lambasted — especially the long, expensive contract handed down to Kensaku Gato in 2026.

So where did Hannahs run off to? “I got married and needed a break,” Ken admitted. “It felt like my life had revolved almost entirely around work since I walked off the field at the end of high school and directly into the stands with a speed gun. I needed to find out what mattered.”

Now back, Hannahs has wasted no time assessing what’s next for one of PEBA’s most storied franchises. “With Spring Training upon us, our primary focus is making sure we are putting our best foot forward going into 2028 — that means primarily shoring up our bullpen and building our depth charts. We’re going to utilize our spring training time to make sure we’re putting the best product on the field that we possibly can.”

The work extends to staffing as well. Many coaching positions still need to be filled. To do so, Hannahs and his team have interviewed over 50 candidates for the open coaching positions in the past two weeks. They are casting their nets wide to find perfect candidates for their minor league affiliates. “It’s important that we’re not only looking at top-flight candidates, but really at all coaches that we think are going to do a good job connecting with and building up our young guys. We don’t want any of our talent to feel like they didn’t have a chance to succeed here.”

When asked what we can expect in the future for the team who has won 12 straight IL Dixie penants, Hannahs responded “we want to make sure that we’re operating with a ‘lean and mean’ mindset. Just because we’re a big payroll team, it doesn’t mean we have to spend every dollar we have. I learned from my mistakes the first time around.”