Hilbert College Athletics

John Hall enters his 8th season as head coach during the 2022-23 academic year after serving as the program's assistant coach from 2013-2015.

Hall is a tireless worker and brings a wealth of experience as a high school head coach, as an umpire and as a parent to the Hawks softball program. He implements his softball knowledge in practices and in games. He can also speak from a parent' s point of view regarding the recruiting process and can help families navigate the high school to college challenges.

Hilbert battled through a rain-shortened Spring Training week in Myrtle Beach, S.C. at the start of the 2022 season.  The Hawks were able only complete five games by March 9th before they faced their first non-conference game at the end of March.  Hilbert earned a sweep over Keuka College and Pitt-Greensburg in addition to the program's first tie in several years. 

Covid still played havoc with the 2021 softball season but the Hawks made the most of it.  They survived an incredibly demanding 8-game (16 double headers) schedule spanning 10 days in late April and then returned to the 2021 AMCC postseason tournament four days later.  Injuries and over-use abuse took it's toll on the team as they dropped the Play-In series at Alfred State May 6th. 

The Covid-shortened 2020 campaign was a rebuild year for the Hawks.  They entered the season with two seniors and 12 of their 16 players were freshman/sophomores. Although they were only able to get nine games in during Spring Training down in Myrtle Beach, S.C., they gained valuable college experience that will help them grow as a program moving forward. The Hawks were outstanding in the classroom with multiple players earning AMCC Individual Peak Performer & All-Academic honors. Senior Maia Delaney led the way, earning Hilbert's McGrath Award for demonstrated exemplary achievement both academically and athletically while at Hilbert College, and was later named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team for being one of the nation's top student-athletes after finishing her career with a cumulative 3.98 GPA.

In a rain-shortened and weather-impacted spring, the 2019 season finished with a wash-out.  The Hawks never completed their final AMCC double header against Pitt-Greensburg and missed-out playing the night cap against Alfred State as well as two double header non-conference games vs. Houghton and Elmira.  Hilbert closed the year at 8-18 and 3-13 in AMCC action, fell short of making the postseason tournament, but they did help Maia Delaney earn a spot on the AMCC Second Team All-Conference.

The 2018 team went 15-17 overall and 9-9 in AMCC action and established a few new records after coming off the program's most success year on the diamond as witnessed by their return to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference postseason..  The 15 W's set a new Win record for the program dating back to 1994, when Hilbert jumped from a two-year junior college to a four-year NCAA institution, and the 17 L's became the second fewest losses a Hilbert softball team suffered in one season.  The Hawks' 9 AMCC wins matched the 2005 team's victory total and mirrored the only other postseason appearance.  Along the way, Hilbert earned their first series sweep against Pitt-Bradford and their first AMCC win against Medaille dating back to the 2012 season.

In 2017, Hall led Hilbert back to the double figure win column by finishing 12-22 and 5-13 AMCC.  They returned from spring break training with a 6-6 record and hit the ground running, once it thawed out up north.  The Hawks chipped away at AMCC opponents and split series against D'Youville, Mt. Aloysius, La Roche, Franciscan and Greensburg.

Hilbert went 8-27 in his first year (2016) which matched the program's win record from 2013 after a pair of 4-20 records sandwiched in between. The 2016 Hawks increased their offensive production, while reducing their opponent's offensive successes. Hilbert lowered the number of ''mercy-rule' games and 11 of their losses were decided by four runs or less. The Hawks set four new single-season records in Batting, eight new Pitching single-season records and four new Fielding single season records.

Hall was the varsity softball coach for Tonawanda High School for 26 years (1986-2012) accumulating 237 wins. During that span, his Warriors won two league championships (1992, 2001) and competed in three NYS Section VI Class B championship games (2000, 2001, 2002). Hall currently serves as the Chairman of Section VI High School softball and is also on the high school state softball committee.

In 2008, Hall returned to the hardwood as the girls' varsity basketball coach at Tonawanda High School. His 2014 Warriors represented Section VI in the New York State play-offs after they won the Class B girls' basketball title. From 1986-1991, Hall served as a boys basketball coach both as a head coach and an assistant coach.

In his twilight years of retirement from a 35-year employment at the City of Tonawanda Recreation Department, the youthful Hall also serves as an Outdoor Athletic Field Maintenance Superstar.

In his free time, Hall enjoys umpiring  summer softball games.