Georgia Tech's Hall preps for Mercer by winning 1,000th game with Jackets

          The first game was against Minnesota on Feb. 11, 1994, at home, and it was a win.

          Danny Hall’s first team at Georgia Tech won five games to open the season and ended up 50-17.

          A quarter of a century later came the 1,000th win, 6-4 Tuesday over No. 6 Auburn.

          Hall was an assistant at Michigan for eight years, and the Wolverines went 368-111-1, winning or tying for first in the Big Ten every year. Then he went 208, 117 as head coach at Kent State in six seasons.

          Hall is 100,513-1 at Georgia Tech, which hosts Mercer on Wednesday. Hall lost his first game against the Bears, 6-5 on May 4, 1994. Hall is 29-10 against Mercer, and has Tyler Gibson, son of Mercer head coach Craig Gibson, on the staff as an undergrad assistant.

          The Yellow Jackets survived three errors, and rode the play of first-year players Michael Guldberg, Colin Hall, Luke Waddell, and Brant Hurter on the mound and at the plate to beat Auburn.

          The 63-year-old Hall is married to Kara, and they have three sons: Danny III, Carter, and Colin.

          He entered the season as the eighth winningest active Division I head coach, and 10th among active coaches in winning percentage. Four head coaches ahead of him in percnetage and three in wins are also in the ACC.