The West Texas A&M baseball team didn’t have to look far to find the new head coach promoting veteran associate head coach Cory Hall as the skipper of the Buffs announced on Wednesday.
“We are so excited that Cory Hall has decided to continue his leadership at WT to become our new head baseball coach,” Interim athletic director Thompson Mayberry said. “He is a man of character and high values. The past 14 years of work he has put into this program is evident by the success on the field and in the classroom. Our current student-athletes respect coach Hall and I am excited to see the program enter this new era and continue to grow under his leadership.”
Hall has spent 14 seasons as the top assistant and pitching coach for the Buffaloes under Matt Vanderburg who accepted the head coaching job at Stephen F. Austin State last week.
“West Texas A&M hit a homerun with the hiring of Coach Hall,” Vanderburg said. He has been instrumental in helping build Buffalo Baseball into the premiere Division II program that it is today. I’m so excited for Cory and I can’t wait to see the WT program continue to excel on the diamond.”
Hall has had four different pitchers (Austin Moore, Josh Payne, Marshall Kasowski, Joe Corbett) drafted in the Major League Baseball Draft during his time in Canyon with multiple other professional players learning under one of the top pitching minds in collegiate baseball.
“I am humbled by the opportunity,” Hall said. “I’ve been given to lead the WTAMU baseball program. I am truly blessed to be able to continue to be a part of this great community and I’m excited to continue building on the successes of this program. Thank you to Dr. Walter Wendler for having the confidence in me to offer me this position and for making it happen as quickly as he did. I look forward to this challenge and am truly grateful for this incredible opportunity.
Hall has seen the Buffs become a regional and national contender during his time in Canyon as WTAMU has registered an overall record of 442-246 over his 14 seasons with two Lone Star Conference Championships (2018, 2021) and seven trips to the NCAA Tournament.
Hall has been instrumental in the building of the Buffalo baseball program throughout both of his stints with the Buffs as he continually has helped improve the pitching staff each year.
“I have to thank Casey Lish (Senior Associate Athletic Director) and Thompson Mayberry (Interim Director of Athletics) for everything they did through this process to make this a reality,” Hall said. “I also have to thank my good friend, Matt Vanderburg for asking me to come with him to WT 16 years ago. I wish him, Kat and their family nothing but success and happiness in Nacogdoches. I know he will go there and do great things with the SFA program.”
Prior to being hired at WT, Hall served as head coach at New Mexico Junior College in 2008 as he led the ThunderBirds to a WJCAC Conference Championship with an overall record of 45-10.
The team ranked in the top five nationally and a 3.43 ERA. as Hall earned WJCAC Coach of the Year and had three players drafted. Hall also was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at NMJC and finished as national runner-up at the 2007 Junior College World Series. Overall, he had 11 pitchers drafted during his time at NMJC.
Prior to NMJC, both Hall and Vanderburg were on staff together at Clarendon College. During the 2002 and 2003 seasons, Hall served as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator and was elevated to head coach for the 2004 and 2005 seasons.