Georgia Tech promotes longtime assistant to lead baseball program

“I was still playing professional baseball and Coach Hall was one of the first guys I reached out to about getting into the coaching profession,” Ramsey told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in April. “I called him and said, ‘Hey what does (coaching) look like?’ He said, ‘If I was hiring an assistant you have a lot of the things that I’d wanna hire.’ That was always something that I look back to. Six months later we’re coaching together.”

Ramsey, 35, was promoted to associate head coach in 2022 and signed a three-year contract extension paying $175,000 annually. The Wesleyan School graduate and Georgia native has earned a reputation for helping to assemble some of Tech’s top recruiting classes and leading a program known for its offensive prowess.

Hall, in March, was asked if he would work with former Tech AD J Batt on hiring Hall’s successor.

“I’ve given (Batt) my opinion and his comment was, ‘I really value your opinion.’ It’s his decision,” Hall said. “I’m sure he’ll lean on me when that time comes he needs to make that (decision).”

Said Hall in 2022: “Do I think James Ramsey is capable of being the head coach here at Georgia Tech? One hundred percent. We gave him the title of associate head coach for a reason. We want to do everything we can to encourage him and keep him here.”

Ramsey finished his FSU career as one of the best Seminoles in program history. He was the 2012 ABCA player of the year and the ninth consensus All-American in Florida State history, earning first-team recognition from the ABCA, Baseball America, NCBWA, Louisville Slugger and Perfect Game. Ramsey hit .339 with 48 doubles, 15 triples, 34 home runs and 202 RBIs during his career.

Ramsey, a member of the Florida State Athletics Hall of Fame, would go on to play for the minor league affiliates of the St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins.

“I’ve known James Ramsey and his family for a long time,” Hall said in a release in 2019. “He went to Wesleyan and my kids went to Wesleyan. I got to sit in the other dugout and watch him play for Florida State and he was a great player there; he was a first-round pick and went on to pro baseball. He’s done everything that our players are trying to do.

“I think he fits into our culture best in that he was a great student at Florida State, he understands the value of a Georgia Tech degree and his wife was a cheerleader here so he’s definitely got a Tech connection. I’ve been around him a lot and I felt like for a transition of looking for a guy who’s going to fit our culture and is going to understand our brand from player development to education, I felt by far he was the best guy.”