Georgia Tech baseball coach Danny Hall: ‘I’ve had a great run’

But, of course, this one was very different.

It was the first night Hall coached the Yellow Jackets after announcing to the world a day before that his tenure as Tech’s skipper will end at the conclusion of the 2025 season.

“I’ve had a great run,” he said Friday after Tech lost, 9-7, to Clemson. “I think it’s best for our team to know it, it’s best for (Tech athletic director) J Batt, the administration here to know it because it’s just a different world that we’re in with transfer portal, NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) and a lot of decisions will need to be made quickly at the end of the year.

“I felt like I knew where I was at and I felt like it was important that J Batt and the administration knew that so that they can have — and they will — a great plan in place so that whenever our season ends, and I hope it’s not until mid-June, that they’re ready to roll.”

On Thursday, Hall, 70, told his 2025 team that he would step away from coaching at the end of the season. The phrase step away is significant because Hall does not foresee retirement in his immediate future, and he said Batt has already suggested Hall remain with the program as a special assistant.

Continuing to coach somewhere else, though, is an unlikely outcome for a man who has been a part of 1,224 wins (21 this season) at Tech, led the Jackets to seven ACC regular-season titles, five ACC tournament championships, 24 trips to the NCAA tournament three appearances at the College World Series. He joked that a 60-80 hour work week and clocking in on the weekends is not appealing.

“I could see myself staying in baseball in some capacity. I don’t have anything in the books, but I enjoy being around the game,” Hall added. “I talked to my mom Thursday. I’ve been able to wear a baseball uniform for 62 straight years. That’s a pretty good run.”

Hall, who has 1,432 career wins because of six seasons coaching Kent State before arriving in Atlanta, signed a contract extension in April of 2022. That contract, which gives Hall an annual salary of $510,000, expires June 30 and would have needed to be extended by June 15 if his Tech tenure were to continue.

The Miami (Ohio) graduate said he discussed his coaching future with his family last week, and took into consideration those possible contract negotiations.

“I’d thought long and hard about it. I didn’t want, whether I was coming back or not, lingering. And I didn’t want any chatter, kind of behind the scenes that I thought might affect my team,” Hall said. “That was the biggest thing that went into my decision, was the timing of it because of my team. I never wanna be a distraction to the team.”

There have been 146 former Jackets selected in the MLB Draft since Hall arrived at Tech in 1994, including Matt Weiters, Charlie Blackmon, Kyle Wren, Tyler Parker, Dusty Isaacs, Jay Hood and Matt Skole. All were at Friday’s game.

Ben King, Joseph Mannelly, Rob Winborne, Keyton Gibson, Matt Simonds, Dylan Biumi, Grant Wruble, Victor Menocal, Tony Plagman, Mike Trapani and Matt Barr were in attendance, too.

Hall’s sons, Carter Hall and Colin Hall, former Tech assistant coach Bobby Moranda and former Tech sports information director Chris Capo were on hand as well.

Hall said Batt indicated there will be another day at Russ Chandler Stadium later this season when even more former players are invited to pay tribute to the four-time ACC Coach of the Year. But in the meantime, the focus will be on the task at hand, and that’s winning more ballgames.

“I’m looking forward to it. I really like this team,” Hall said of the rest of the year. “I’m gonna do everything I can — it’d be great to win the conference, it’d be great to host a regional or play in a regional and just try to take this team as far as we can go.”