NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association Coaches Hall of Fame
James Hall – former coach at Eastern Arizona and his alma mater Cochise – spent 12 years in the NJCAA coaching ranks. During his time with the two Arizona programs, Hall in total went 272-193-1 with both programs. In his five years at Eastern Arizona, he logged an 89-78 record and in seven years with Cochise went 183-115-1.
In his final two seasons with Cochise in 1988 and 1989, the Apaches went on to the NJCAA World Series and finished seventh and third, respectively. Public recognition followed Coach Hall as he was able to garner the 1988 Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC) Coach of the Year and NJCAA Region 1 Baseball Coach of the Year awards in 1988 and 1989. He was also recognized by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) as the District Coach of the Year in both seasons.
Some other notable recognition includes being inducted into the Arizona Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame and the Arizona Fast Pitch Softball Hall of Fame in 2010, as Hall turned to fastpitch softball and played competitively. In 1985, he was awarded the International Softball Congress World Championships Hitting Award. In the 1981-82 season, Hall proved his coaching abilities translated into another sport as he filled in as the interim head coach for Eastern Arizona’s softball program. That year the Gila Monsters went 32-16.
Outside of the NJCAA, Hall was an MLB associate scout from 1987-2008, 14 of those years were with the Chicago Cubs.
Hall’s other roles in the NJCAA consist of taking over as athletic director at Cochise where he has steered the athletic program for his alma mater since 1988. From 1992-1994 and 1998-2000, he served as the ACCAC Conference President and then for 11 years served as an NJCAA assistant regional director from 2000-2011.
Hall grew up in the Grand Canyon State, as he was raised in Bowie. From there he walked on to Cochise’s baseball team as player in 1969. He was picked up by the San Francisco Giants minor league affiliate Class A Davenport, but was released the end of spring training in 1974. Hall currently resides in Sierra Vista, Arizona