Georgia Tech's Danny Hall Transitions From Certainty to Unknown

From preparing his team to travel for an away series to being thrusted into unfamiliar territory, Georgia Tech's Danny Hall discusses the transition of certainty to unknown.

Georgia Tech Athletics

Last Thursday, Georgia Tech head baseball coach Danny Hall was still in normal routine. Hall was loading the bus, preparing his team to travel to Tallahassee, FL before the Yellow Jackets' weekend matchup with the Florida State Seminoles. A phone call from FSU head baseball coach Mike Martin Jr. would suddenly change things. 

"He (Martin Jr.) said his people were telling him that there was a conference call at 2 o'clock, I think with the ACC, and it was the president of the ACC and the AD's," Hall said. "He said, 'What time are you leaving?' I said, '1:15,' and he said just hold tight til a little bit after 2 o'clock."

Shortly after, Hall would receive the news that abruptly halted his team's season. 

"I got a notification that Todd (Stansbury) wanted to meet with everybody, I think at 2:45," Hall said. "So I went over to that meeting and was told that there wouldn't be anything until I think March 29th at that time. So went back to just tell the team that there wouldn't be anything until March 29th. Go ahead and go home at that time because they also indicated that we could not work with our players or be around them."

According to Hall, he and the Jackets still had hope the season would resume in a couple of weeks. Soon after, the NCAA's decision to suspend all athletic activities and remaining winter/spring championships in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic left things uncertain. 

"(I) have not been able to, I guess give it its due justice with my team," Hall said. "Which is probably something I regret a little bit, that we kind of left out of there with hope. And you know, now obviously, a lot of things have changed since then." 

With nearly 50 years of experience in college baseball as a student-athlete turned coach, nothing could've prepared Hall for the indefinite standstill of the season and being pulled into a realm of unknown. 

"We've never had anything happen like this," Hall said. "And part of certainly working with a team is you always have hope. You always have a next game. For the seniors, they're hoping for a chance to keep playing. For the juniors, they're looking forward to the (MLB) Draft. To not be able to, I guess, just talk them through that. I mean, I've been lost. I've told people it just feels like somebody punched you in the gut... You're always planning as a coach so to not know what you're planning for, makes it hard."

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