Georgia announced the hiring of baseball assistant Nick Ammirati on Tuesday morning, confirming published reports from Monday.

He replaces Josh Simpson who took a job at LSU.

Ammirati (am-uh-RAH-tee) comes to Georgia after spending the past three seasons as an assistant at the University of Kentucky on Nick Mingione’s staff. The Wildcats made their first College World Series in 2024, finished with a school record 46-15 mark, and claimed the program’s second-ever SEC title after going 22-8 in league play.

“We’re excited to add Nick to our staff as he’s a dynamic recruiter and instructor, plus he’s experienced success at every level of his baseball playing and coaching career,” said head coach Wes Johnson in a statement.

The 2024 Kentucky offense, directed by Ammirati, led the SEC with 120 stolen bases. In SEC action, the Wildcats led the league in batting average, on-base percentage, runs scored, hits, doubles, RBI, and stolen bases. Nick Lopez earned 2nd Team All-America honors and 1st Team All-SEC while Ryan Waldschmidt was a 3rd Team All-American and made second team All-SEC. Mitchell Daly and Emilien Pitre, who was tabbed a 3rd Team All-American, made the All-SEC Defensive Team.

Ammirati and current Bulldog assistant head coach Will Coggin were on the same UK staff in 2022 and 2023 and both were at Mississippi State in 2012. In five seasons as a Division-I assistant heading into the 2024 season, Ammirati has had 22 players drafted and three already reached the Major Leagues (through 2022). Ammirati’s track record is notable both as a player in high school and college and as a coach at the NCAA and NJCAA level.

Before heading to Kentucky, Ammirati helped guide Southern Miss to an NCAA Tournament appearance as an assistant coach in 2021 when the Golden Eagles posted a 40-21 mark and reached the Oxford (Miss.) Regional final. USM ranked 17th in home runs, 23rd in doubles, and 31st in slugging percentage. Also, Ammirati helped infielder Reed Trimble to Perfect Game/Rawlings All-America third-team honors as the all-conference and freshman All-America honoree ranked first nationally in runs batted in, and was 24th nationally in home runs.

Ammirati earned his bachelor’s degree in public relations from Mississippi State in 2013 where he was a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll honoree. He received his master’s in health and human performance from Northwestern State in 2016. He is married to the former Caroline Pound.