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Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall talks with an umpire during an NCAA baseball game against Western Carolina on Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo\/Vasha Hunt)<\/p>\n
PARKERSBURG \u2014 The journey from Coolville in the Buckeye State to the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame is nearly complete for recently retired Georgia Tech baseball skipper Danny Hall.<\/p>\n
The 1973 Federal Hocking graduate, who in 2023 was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, will be enshrined with 11 others on Saturday night during the 70th ceremony set for the Macon City Auditorium.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be a big deal,\u201d said Hall, who had the most coaching wins in school history and led Georgia Tech (1994-2025) to two dozen NCAA berths and three appearances in the College World Series. \u201cI think someone told me there\u2019s about 500 people who will attend. It will be a nice affair for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall\u2019s record of 1,452-793-1 ranks ninth in NCAA history for career victories. <\/p>\n
He was a five-time Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year and earned the same honors twice in the Mid-American Conference while leading Kent State.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up over there in Coolville, Ohio and I was born in Weston, W.Va. My mom and dad both went to Glenville State,\u201d Hall said. \u201cMy dad played football and baseball at Glenville State and then coached me literally my whole high school career in football and baseball. <\/p>\n
\u201cKind of grew up in the hills there of Athens County, but it\u2019s just great experience and Parkersburg was right there. I did play one summer over there in City Park. I can\u2019t remember the name of the team I was on, but I played against Steve Swisher. Back in the day he was Parkersburg South. He was just a tick older than me. For years my dad was telling me how good Nick Swisher was and he was right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall still has family in the area. His mother, a retired elementary school teacher and former basketball coach at Federal Hocking, lives in Coolville. His sister resides in Amesville.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have 100% been blessed, but it all started right there in Coolville and just hanging out, following my dad in gyms and on fields for a lot of years,\u201d Hall admitted. \u201cHe started a little league team there in Coolville when I was 8 years old and I told people this \u2014 so for 62 straight years I had a baseball uniform on at some point in time in the year. Whether it was from little league to Georgia Tech and then playing in college at Miami University there in Ohio. It was just a blessing to be able to do that for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite his retirement from the dugout, Hall has found a way to stay busy on a couple of fronts with the ACC Network Extra (ACCNX) and BIP Wealth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a company that I think was kind of launched in 2007 and they had managed my money for literally almost the whole time I was at Georgia Tech,\u201d explained Hall. \u201cWhen I retired I literally gave them my 401K and I\u2019m like \u2018alright, keep it working here\u2019 and so long story short they have a baseball division that manages money for over 120 pro baseball players, and some college players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not necessarily in that division, but I\u2019m in what they call \u2018business development role.\u2019 All I do, like this morning, I had breakfast with an ex-player of mine. I probably haven\u2019t been around the guy too much for 10 years and so it was just talking to him and seeing where he\u2019s at with financial planning and if it\u2019s something our company can help him with then I\u2019m going to have him meet with a personal wealth advisor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The good news for Hall is the local office for BIP Wealth is only five minutes from his house.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe company is growing and they manage money for over I think 3,000 families, but we do have that baseball division and it was started by a guy named Jim Poole, who pitched in the major leagues and pitched at Georgia Tech and unfortunately he passed away from ALS a couple years ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hall is equally excited about the ACCNX.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll stream games and so I am broadcasting most of the Saturday games down there. Last weekend I made my broadcasting debut,\u201d Hall said of the ESPN app. \u201cThey played Bowling Green and they swept Bowling Green.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got a really good team. Like the team that we had last year was very young and we were able to secure most of that team with some NIL money, so they\u2019ll have a great chance to make a great run this year throughout the season in college baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall\u2019s coaching tenure spanned an interesting time as he was around long before the advent of players earning money through Name, Image and Likeness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole NIL thing. The landscape has totally changed in college athletics,\u201d Hall explained. \u201cBaseball players, particularly at the highest level, are able to kind of capitalize on that Name, Image and Likeness, and then depending on the school they can get revenue sharing money. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good for baseball because the baseball player forever was just on partial scholarship. Now guys can live pretty comfortably. That\u2019s how I would say it. If you\u2019re a great player you are going to get paid a lot of money to play college baseball these days.\u201d<\/p>\n
What hasn\u2019t changed about Hall throughout the decades is his dedication to the sport he loves.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also one that\u2019s not going to forget his roots anytime soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was up there kind of right before Christmas to see my mom and my sister and then I was also up there this summer, and then ironically enough the lady who was when I coached at Kent State, the lady that was our academic advisor is Cathy O\u2019Donnell. She lives in Belpre,\u201d Hall said. \u201cFunny story when I was seeing my mom she had to go to Belpre for something and I drove her. We ate at a Mexican restaurant so I said \u2018hey, I know that Rod and Cathy live right on the river here. <\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s see if we can find them so I found the address in my phone. We were kind of driving back down there and I go \u2018well, that\u2019s Cathy O\u2019Donnell right there outside of her house\u2019 so we pulled in and surprised them so to speak. It was great to see them. Rod was great and obviously the track coach when I was at Kent State and then Cathy, personally, was the academic advisor for baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside from Hall, the 70th Georgia Sports Hall of Fame class also includes John Kasay, Morgan Burnett, Bunny Fuller Harris, Chaunte Lowe, Alvin Copeland, Patsy Neal, Tim Willis, Nate Hirsch, Ray Cutright, George Maloof and Dr. Leah Brown.<\/p>\n
After finding out he was going to be inducted the ex-Lancer started looking into its storied history.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first guy on the list is Hank Aaron, and so OK, so you go Hank Aaron and you go Kevin Brown, and you know Kevin Brown pitched at Georgia Tech,\u201d Hall said when he began perusing the baseball list. \u201cThe first 100-million dollar player in the major leagues. Bobby Cox. Tom Glavine. Chipper Jones. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, Brian McCann, Dale Murphy, Phil Niekro, Jackie Robinson, John Smoltz and you know, I\u2019m just looking at that and for me it\u2019s just kind of a humbling experience to be put into a hall of fame where there is such, not only in baseball, but the football and basketball list is crazy, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com<\/p>\n
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