Five Potential Candidates For Georgia Tech Baseball's Head Coaching Job

Jun 1, 2025; Oxford, MS, USA; Georgia Tech Yellowjackets first baseman Kent Schmidt (10) reacts as he returns to the dugout after a home run during the first inning against the Mississippi Rebels. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Georgia Tech Baseball is in a very strange position.

While it has been known that long-time head coach Danny Hall was going to retire at the end of this season, former athletic director J Batt was the guy who was going to make the next hire, but he has since left to take the athletic director position at Michigan State, leaving Georgia Tech without a baseball coach and an athletic director.

So what does Georgia Tech do? This is an awkward position to be in. Will Georgia Tech wait to hire a baseball coach until a new AD is hired? If James Ramsey was going to be the choice all along, why wait? The transfer portal is open and if the AD hire drags on for weeks, will Georgia Tech's players be patient enough for that if that is the decision? Then again, hiring any coach in any sport without an athletic director would be a bit awkward. President Angel Cabrera has a lot of things to juggle right now with this situation. Georgia Tech is one of the premier baseball jobs in the country and there is likely no shortage of candidates who would want the job.

With the position still open (for now), let's look at who could be some potential candidates, including Ramsey.

Note: This is just speculation, not reporting of any candidate's interest in Georgia Tech or Georgia Tech's interest in them

Associate Head Coach James Ramsey

Ramsey has never been a head coach before but has been a great recruiter and a big part of why Georgia Tech has had some of the best offenses in the country.

Per his Georgia Tech bio, Ramsey joined the Yellow Jackets after being one of the best to ever don the Garnet and Gold at Florida State, winning ABCA Player of the Year and ACC Player of the Year honors, in addition to being named an All-American, and getting selected in the first round of the MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. From there, Ramsey went on to have a fine professional career with several teams, including helping the Columbus Clippers to a AAA International League Championship in 2015. Ramsey coaches the Yellow Jackets’ outfielders and is the team’s hitting coach, working on both team and individual hitting philosophies. He is also in charge of integrating technology and analytics into player development and evaluation.

This feels like the logical move given how players like him and how he has stayed with the program, but nothing is certain with a new a

Duke head coach Chris Pollard

Duke is one of the top teams in the country this season and punched their ticket this weekend to the super regionals after a dominant run that included beating regional host Georgia.

Per his Duke bio, Pollard has coached 46 Major League Baseball Draft picks, 24 All-ACC selections, nine Freshmen All-Americans, and seven All-Americans. In addition, he has led the program to three Super Regionals (2018, 2019, 2023) and two ACC Baseball Tournament Championship titles (2021, 2024), each the first in program history. Duke reached three consecutive postseasons (2018, 2019, 2021) for the first time in program history and his first postseason appearance in 2016 broke a 55-year drought. In 2021, Pollard became the first Duke coach to reach 100 career ACC wins, becoming one of six active head coaches to achieve that mark at the time.

Entering the 2025 season, Pollard sits with 379 career wins at Duke, three shy of becoming the winningest head coach in program history. In 2023 and 2024, the Blue Devils produced record-breaking performances on the field, shattering multiple program bests including home runs (2023 & 2024), strikeouts, fielding percentage, and runs (2023 & 2024).

Pollard is a proven coach who knows how to win. 

Murray State head coach Dan Skirka

Murray State is the story of college baseball so far (just ask Georgia Tech) as the Racers punched their ticket to the super regionals last night with a win over Ole Miss. Skirka's name is going to get a lot of mention for coaching jobs because of the job he has done and the country is starting to notice what a strong program he has. He has built Murray State into a consistent winner in his seven seasons with the program and is a candidate worthy of a long look.

West Virginia Head Coach Steve Sabins

He might be in his first season as the head coach at WVU, but Sabins has the program in the super regionals this weekend against LSU. With a program like Virginia, they may opt to bring in a more experienced coach, but Sabins has done an excellent job in his first season and in his years prior as an assistant.

Per his West Virginia bio, During Sabins’ tenure in Morgantown, the Mountaineers have produced record-setting numbers offensively, while also bringing in the highest-ranked recruiting classes in program history. That includes the 2018 class, ranked No. 21 nationally – the Mountaineers’ first top-25 recruiting class ever. A year later, the 2019 class added to the program's momentum, checking in at No. 23 nationally, marking the first time WVU signed back-to-back top-25 classes.

Sabins also led the charge in organizing four more top-40 classes from 2020-23.

Sabins has worked to become one of the premier assistant baseball coaches in the country. In January 2020, he represented the Mountaineers at the Surefire Forum, an event that brings together some of the nation’s top coaches to promote the future of the game.

Sabins helped lead the Mountaineers to new heights in 2023 as WVU took home a share of the Big 12 regular-season title for the first time in program history, the first conference championship for the Mountaineers since winning the Big East in 1996.

Oregon State Head Coach Mitch Canham

Another head coach that is currently coaching a team that is in a super regional. Oregon State will host Florida State this weekend with a trip to Omaha on the line and Canham has done a great job of guiding this program since becoming the head coach in 2019.

Per his Oregon State bio, Canham and the Beavers advanced to their seventh consecutive NCAA postseason appearance in 2024. Oregon State ended the season with a 45-16 record, appearing in the team’s ninth NCAA Super Regional. Canham mentored Travis Bazzana, who was selected No. 1 overall in the MLB Draft, the second such selection in the program’s history. Bazzana was one of seven MLB Draft selections in 2024. Bazzana, who was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy, was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year. He was a unanimous First-Team All-American. He was one of five All-Americans for the Beavers in Canham’s fifth season at the helm, being joined by Aiden May, Jacob Kmatz, Bridger Holmes and Gavin Turley.

Canham guided Oregon State to a 48-18 record and a trip to the NCAA Super Regionals in 2022, his second full season as the program’s head coach. The Beavers finished 20-10 in Pac-12 play, second in the conference, and advanced to the inaugural Pac-12 Tournament title game.