Mercer Bears
Encyclopedia
The Mercer Bears are the athletic teams of Mercer University
, Mercer is an NCAA Division I member competing in the Atlantic Sun Conference
for most sports, Mercer rifle and lacrosse teams compete as NCAA Division I independents, football will compete in the Pioneer Football League
when the program begins in 2013, and sand volleyball is considered an emerging sport by the NCAA. Mercer joined the Atlantic Sun, formerly called the Trans American Athletic Conference, in 1978 and is the only charter member remaining with the conference. Mercer is currently the only private university in Georgia with a NCAA Division I athletic program. The university fields eight men's, nine women's, and one co-educational varsity sport teams, rifle.
system, is the new athletics director. Cole, a member of the Georgia House of Representatives
, served as Governor Sonny Perdue
's floor leader in the House and was selected to become Georgia Secretary of State in December 2009. He declined the appointment to become Mercer athletics director.
Men's intercollegiate athletic teams
Women's intercollegiate athletic teams
beginning in the fall of 2013. Mercer will compete as a NCAA Division I, non-scholarship program and has applied for membership in the Pioneer Football League
. Reinstatement comes after a 70-year hiatus; the university suspended football during World War II
and did not revive it. The final game was in 1941.
Mercer had announced in 2007 it would study reinstatement. Mercer President William D. Underwood
indicated support if the program could be financially viable, if it enhanced the academic mission of the university, and if it could be competitive within those financial and academic constraints. After extensive study, Underwood recommended reinstatement to the Mercer board of trustees; the trustees agreed and approved plans to hire a coaching staff, to recruit players, and to construct an on-campus stadium.
The reinstatement of football revives a storied university program. Mercer and the University of Georgia
competed in the first football game in Georgia; UGA won 50-0 on January 15, 1892. Later the same year, Mercer played Georgia Tech in GT's first football game; Mercer won 12-6 on November 5, 1892. Mercer football alumni include Wally Butts
, one of the greatest personalities in Georgia sports history. After his playing days at Mercer, Butts served as the head coach at the University of Georgia from 1939 to 1960 and as UGA athletic director from 1939 to 1963; he is a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
and the College Football Hall of Fame
. Other notable alumni are Joseph "Phoney" Smith and Bill Yoast
. Smith was an All-American halfback
and is Mercer's all-time leading scorer; he scored 176 points and later played for the semi-professional Ironton Tanks
. Yoast is the high school coach made famous in the movie Remember the Titans
.
On January 20, 2011, Mercer announced the hiring of Bobby Lamb
as its new head football coach. Lamb compiled a record of 67-40 in nine seasons as the head coach at Furman University
from 2002-2010. He played quarterback at Furman from 1982-1985 and was the Southern Conference
player of the year in 1985. Lamb was an assistant coach at Furman from 1986 until he became head coach in 2002. He resigned from Furman after compiling a record of 5-6 for the 2010 season, his only losing season in nine years. Lamb is a Georgia native; he was born in Augusta
and graduated from high school in Commerce
.
who served as head coach for ten seasons and who was the 2002-03 Jim Phelan
National Coach of the Year. Slonaker received that award after leading Mercer to the best one season turnaround in NCAA history, improving from 6-23 to 23-6. The team won the Atlantic Sun regular season championship with a 14-2 conference record and made school history for number of wins (23); Mercer won 22 games in 1923-24 and 1984-85. The season ended with a loss in the Atlantic Sun tournament. Slonaker was the first National Coach of the Year to receive the award after it was named in honor of Jim Phelan. The four other finalists were Lute Olson
(Arizona), Skip Prosser
(Wake Forest), Bo Ryan
(Wisconsin), and Tubby Smith
(Kentucky). Mercer did not maintain this level of success, which prompted the university to hire a new head coach. Prior to Mercer, Hoffman was head coach of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers
, a National Basketball Association
developmental league team. As of the start of the 2008-09 season, Hoffman's overall record as a head coach at the collegiate level is 400-171. When his first Mercer team takes the court, he will rank among the top 25 active collegiate coaches in winning percentage. Hoffman and Mercer president William D. Underwood
are both graduates of Oklahoma Baptist University
.
Mercer's basketball alumni include Sam Mitchell
, a retired NBA
player who became head coach of the Toronto Raptors
. Mitchell was drafted with the seventh pick of the third round (54th overall) by the Houston Rockets
in the 1985 NBA draft. He scored nearly 2,000 points at Mercer, the leading scorer in team history, and led Mercer to the 1985 Trans-America Athletic Conference
regular season and tournament championships. Mitchell is a current member of the university board of trustees.
More recent alumni include Will Emerson, a forward on the men's basketball team, who was the 2004-05 and 2005-06 Atlantic Sun Conference Male Student Athlete of the Year, only the third person to be selected twice for the award. Emerson was also named to ESPN the Magazine's
Academic All-American first team in 2005 and 2006.
Mercer received national attention in November 2007 when they defeated the University of Southern California
, which was ranked 18th in the nation at the time of the game. In November 2008, Mercer again received national attention by defeating Auburn University
and the University of Alabama
.
. Jones compiled a 35-56 record during three seasons at Mercer. She resigned when Mercer refused to give her a new contract for more than one year after failing to advance beyond the first round of the 2010 Atlantic Sun Conference tournament. Gardner, former head coach at the University of Arkansas
and Austin Peay University, was most recently an assistant coach at the University of Florida
. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia
and compiled a 64-54 record in four seasons at Arkansas and a 112-93 record in seven seasons at Austin Peay. Gardner is the tenth head coach in Mercer's 41 years of women's basketball.
coached the team in 1903 leading it to the Georgia State Championship. In recent years, Mercer has won four Atlantic Sun Conference
championships, the last in 2010. Since the program began in 1871, ten Mercer players have advanced to the Major Leagues
.
In 2010, Mercer won the Atlantic Sun Conference baseball championship for the first time since 1983. Mercer, with a 37-22 record, advanced to the NCAA Division I Atlanta Regional where the team defeated Elon University
, but lost to Georgia Tech and the University of Alabama
. The team finished the season with a 38-24 record, one of the most successful in university history.
for the 2010-11 academic year and women's lacrosse beginning in the 2011-12 academic year. The programs are the first in Georgia at the NCAA Division I level. The men's lacrosse team picked up the program's first NCAA win on March 19, 2011 against Carthage College
17-13.
, an indoor pool, work-out facilities, intramural basketball courts, an air-rifle range, offices, a food court, and numerous meeting facilities. Mercer's Claude Smith Field
(baseball), softball, and intramural fields are next to the center along with the university's tennis complex. In 2007, a 101-room Hilton Garden Inn
opened on university-owned land adjacent to the University Center.
As of August 2011, the university is evaluating locations for construction of a new lacrosse/football stadium with several sites in Macon, both on-campus and near campus, under consideration.
Atlantic Sun Conference (A-Sun) Championships:
Mercer University
Mercer University is an independent, private, coeducational university with a Baptist heritage located in the U.S. state of Georgia. Mercer is the only university of its size in the United States that offers programs in eleven diversified fields of study: liberal arts, business, education, music,...
, Mercer is an NCAA Division I member competing in the Atlantic Sun Conference
Atlantic Sun Conference
The Atlantic Sun Conference is a college athletic conference operating in the Southeastern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I; it does not sponsor football. The conference was established in 1978 as the Trans America Athletic Conference...
for most sports, Mercer rifle and lacrosse teams compete as NCAA Division I independents, football will compete in the Pioneer Football League
Pioneer Football League
The Pioneer Football League is a college athletic conference which operates in the East, Midwest, and California of the United States. It has member schools that range from New York, North Carolina, and Florida in the east to California in the west. The conference participates in the NCAA's...
when the program begins in 2013, and sand volleyball is considered an emerging sport by the NCAA. Mercer joined the Atlantic Sun, formerly called the Trans American Athletic Conference, in 1978 and is the only charter member remaining with the conference. Mercer is currently the only private university in Georgia with a NCAA Division I athletic program. The university fields eight men's, nine women's, and one co-educational varsity sport teams, rifle.
New athletics director
Bobby Pope retired on June 30, 2010 after 21 years as athletics director. Pope was affiliated with Mercer for 40 years starting in 1970 as a radio announcer, and in 1980 became sports information director. He became athletics director in 1989 and oversaw construction of the University Center and renovation of the baseball, softball, and tennis facilities. Jim Cole, a Mercer graduate and a former professional baseball player in the Milwaukee BrewersMilwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
system, is the new athletics director. Cole, a member of the Georgia House of Representatives
Georgia House of Representatives
The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly of the U.S. state of Georgia.-Composition:...
, served as Governor Sonny Perdue
Sonny Perdue
George Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III, was the 81st Governor of Georgia. Upon his inauguration in January 2003, he became the first Republican governor of Georgia since Benjamin F. Conley served during Reconstruction in the 1870s....
's floor leader in the House and was selected to become Georgia Secretary of State in December 2009. He declined the appointment to become Mercer athletics director.
Sports
The Mercer University Athletic Department sponsors the following sports:Men's intercollegiate athletic teams
- BaseballBaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
- BasketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
- Cross CountryCross country runningCross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
- FootballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
(2013) - GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
- LacrosseLacrosseLacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
- RifleShooting sportsA shooting sport is a competitive sport involving tests of proficiency using various types of guns such as firearms and airguns . Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event...
(Co-ed) - Soccer
- TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
Women's intercollegiate athletic teams
- BasketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
- Cross CountryCross country runningCross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
- GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
- LacrosseLacrosseLacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
(2011) - RifleShooting sportsA shooting sport is a competitive sport involving tests of proficiency using various types of guns such as firearms and airguns . Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event...
(Co-ed) - Sand VolleyballBeach volleyballBeach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net.Like volleyball, the object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponent’s court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent....
(emerging sport) - Soccer
- SoftballSoftballSoftball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
- TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
- VolleyballVolleyballVolleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
Football
On November 19, 2010, Mercer announced the reinstatement of intercollegiate footballAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
beginning in the fall of 2013. Mercer will compete as a NCAA Division I, non-scholarship program and has applied for membership in the Pioneer Football League
Pioneer Football League
The Pioneer Football League is a college athletic conference which operates in the East, Midwest, and California of the United States. It has member schools that range from New York, North Carolina, and Florida in the east to California in the west. The conference participates in the NCAA's...
. Reinstatement comes after a 70-year hiatus; the university suspended football during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and did not revive it. The final game was in 1941.
Mercer had announced in 2007 it would study reinstatement. Mercer President William D. Underwood
William D. Underwood
William D. Underwood has served as the eighteenth President of Mercer University since 2006. He was the interim President of Baylor University from 2005 to 2006.-Biography:...
indicated support if the program could be financially viable, if it enhanced the academic mission of the university, and if it could be competitive within those financial and academic constraints. After extensive study, Underwood recommended reinstatement to the Mercer board of trustees; the trustees agreed and approved plans to hire a coaching staff, to recruit players, and to construct an on-campus stadium.
The reinstatement of football revives a storied university program. Mercer and the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
competed in the first football game in Georgia; UGA won 50-0 on January 15, 1892. Later the same year, Mercer played Georgia Tech in GT's first football game; Mercer won 12-6 on November 5, 1892. Mercer football alumni include Wally Butts
Wally Butts
James Wallace "Wally" Butts, Jr. was an American football player and coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head coach at the University of Georgia from 1939 to 1960, compiling a record of 140–86–9...
, one of the greatest personalities in Georgia sports history. After his playing days at Mercer, Butts served as the head coach at the University of Georgia from 1939 to 1960 and as UGA athletic director from 1939 to 1963; he is a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame is located in Macon, Georgia. It is the largest state sports hall of fame in America at .-Exhibitions:The Hall of Fame houses over of exhibit space broken down into sections including Hall of Fame Inductees, High School, collegiate sports, Olympic, Paralympic,...
and the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
. Other notable alumni are Joseph "Phoney" Smith and Bill Yoast
Bill Yoast
William "Bill" Yoast is an American high school football coach best known for being featured in the 2000 film Remember the Titans. He was portrayed by veteran actor Will Patton.Yoast grew up in Florence, Alabama...
. Smith was an All-American halfback
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
and is Mercer's all-time leading scorer; he scored 176 points and later played for the semi-professional Ironton Tanks
Ironton Tanks
The Ironton Tanks were a semi-professional football team organized in 1919 in Ironton, Ohio.Their historical marker gives the story of the Tanks origin: "Semi-professional football began in Ironton in 1893 with a team known as the Irontonians...
. Yoast is the high school coach made famous in the movie Remember the Titans
Remember the Titans
Remember the Titans is a 2000 American sports film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Boaz Yakin. Inspired by real events, the plot was conceived from a screenplay written by Gregory Allen Howard. The film starts as a new coach of the Titans, a football team previously coached by the...
.
On January 20, 2011, Mercer announced the hiring of Bobby Lamb
Bobby Lamb (American football)
Robert Emory "Bobby" Lamb is the former head football coach of the Furman Paladins located in Greenville, South Carolina. He has filled the position since 2002. He resigned as coach in November 2010. The Paladins compete in the Football Championship Subdivision of Division I as members of the...
as its new head football coach. Lamb compiled a record of 67-40 in nine seasons as the head coach at Furman University
Furman University
Furman University is a selective, private, coeducational, liberal arts college in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Furman is one of the oldest, and more selective private institutions in South Carolina...
from 2002-2010. He played quarterback at Furman from 1982-1985 and was the Southern Conference
Southern Conference
The Southern Conference is a Division I college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision . Member institutions are located in the states of Alabama, Georgia, North...
player of the year in 1985. Lamb was an assistant coach at Furman from 1986 until he became head coach in 2002. He resigned from Furman after compiling a record of 5-6 for the 2010 season, his only losing season in nine years. Lamb is a Georgia native; he was born in Augusta
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
and graduated from high school in Commerce
Commerce, Georgia
Commerce is a city in Jackson County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 6,544.-Geography:Commerce is located at ....
.
Men's basketball
Bob Hoffman was named men's basketball head coach in March 2008. Hoffman replaced Mark SlonakerMark Slonaker
Mark Slonaker is an American college basketball coach. He is the former head men's basketball coach at Mercer University. He was the 2002–03 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year after leading Mercer to the best one season turnaround in NCAA history, improving from 6–23 to 23–6...
who served as head coach for ten seasons and who was the 2002-03 Jim Phelan
Jim Phelan
Jim Phelan was a collegiate basketball coach for Mount Saint Mary's University. Jim was a 1951 graduate of La Salle University and played one season for the Philadelphia Warriors of the NBA. He was famous for wearing a bow tie on the sidelines.-Coaching career:Jim coached his entire career at...
National Coach of the Year. Slonaker received that award after leading Mercer to the best one season turnaround in NCAA history, improving from 6-23 to 23-6. The team won the Atlantic Sun regular season championship with a 14-2 conference record and made school history for number of wins (23); Mercer won 22 games in 1923-24 and 1984-85. The season ended with a loss in the Atlantic Sun tournament. Slonaker was the first National Coach of the Year to receive the award after it was named in honor of Jim Phelan. The four other finalists were Lute Olson
Lute Olson
Robert Luther "Lute" Olson is a retired American men's basketball coach. He was most recently head coach at the University of Arizona for a period of 25 years. He was also head coach at the University of Iowa for 9 years and California State University, Long Beach for one season...
(Arizona), Skip Prosser
Skip Prosser
George Edward "Skip" Prosser was an American college basketball coach who was head men's basketball coach at Wake Forest University at the time of his death. He was the only coach in NCAA history to take three separate schools to the NCAA Tournament in his first year coaching the teams...
(Wake Forest), Bo Ryan
Bo Ryan
William "Bo" Francis Ryan, Jr. is an American college basketball coach and current head coach of the University of Wisconsin–Madison men's basketball team.-Playing career:...
(Wisconsin), and Tubby Smith
Tubby Smith
Orlando "Tubby" Smith is an American college basketball coach. He is currently the men's basketball head coach at the University of Minnesota...
(Kentucky). Mercer did not maintain this level of success, which prompted the university to hire a new head coach. Prior to Mercer, Hoffman was head coach of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers
Rio Grande Valley Vipers
The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are a 2007-08 expansion team in the NBA Development League. They play their home games at the State Farm Arena, in Hidalgo, Texas....
, a National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
developmental league team. As of the start of the 2008-09 season, Hoffman's overall record as a head coach at the collegiate level is 400-171. When his first Mercer team takes the court, he will rank among the top 25 active collegiate coaches in winning percentage. Hoffman and Mercer president William D. Underwood
William D. Underwood
William D. Underwood has served as the eighteenth President of Mercer University since 2006. He was the interim President of Baylor University from 2005 to 2006.-Biography:...
are both graduates of Oklahoma Baptist University
Oklahoma Baptist University
Oklahoma Baptist University is a co-educational Christian liberal arts university located in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and owned by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. Established in 1910, OBU is ranked No.2 among baccalaureate colleges in the western region in the 2010 U.S...
.
Mercer's basketball alumni include Sam Mitchell
Sam Mitchell (basketball)
Samuel "Sam" E. Mitchell, Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player and a former head coach in the National Basketball Association . He is currently an assistant coach with the New Jersey Nets....
, a retired NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
player who became head coach of the Toronto Raptors
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are a professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, as part of the NBA's re-expansion...
. Mitchell was drafted with the seventh pick of the third round (54th overall) by the Houston Rockets
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...
in the 1985 NBA draft. He scored nearly 2,000 points at Mercer, the leading scorer in team history, and led Mercer to the 1985 Trans-America Athletic Conference
Atlantic Sun Conference
The Atlantic Sun Conference is a college athletic conference operating in the Southeastern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I; it does not sponsor football. The conference was established in 1978 as the Trans America Athletic Conference...
regular season and tournament championships. Mitchell is a current member of the university board of trustees.
More recent alumni include Will Emerson, a forward on the men's basketball team, who was the 2004-05 and 2005-06 Atlantic Sun Conference Male Student Athlete of the Year, only the third person to be selected twice for the award. Emerson was also named to ESPN the Magazine's
ESPN The Magazine
ESPN The Magazine is a bi-weekly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut in the United States. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998....
Academic All-American first team in 2005 and 2006.
Mercer received national attention in November 2007 when they defeated the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, which was ranked 18th in the nation at the time of the game. In November 2008, Mercer again received national attention by defeating Auburn University
Auburn University
Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
and the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
.
Women's basketball
Susie Gardner was named women's basketball head coach in June 2010. She replaced Jannell Jones who resigned to become the head coach of California State University, Los AngelesCalifornia State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles is a public comprehensive university, part of the California State University system...
. Jones compiled a 35-56 record during three seasons at Mercer. She resigned when Mercer refused to give her a new contract for more than one year after failing to advance beyond the first round of the 2010 Atlantic Sun Conference tournament. Gardner, former head coach at the University of Arkansas
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
and Austin Peay University, was most recently an assistant coach at the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
and compiled a 64-54 record in four seasons at Arkansas and a 112-93 record in seven seasons at Austin Peay. Gardner is the tenth head coach in Mercer's 41 years of women's basketball.
Baseball
Mercer fielded its first baseball team in 1871. Cy YoungCy Young
Denton True "Cy" Young was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. During his 22-year baseball career , he pitched for five different teams. Young was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937...
coached the team in 1903 leading it to the Georgia State Championship. In recent years, Mercer has won four Atlantic Sun Conference
Atlantic Sun Conference
The Atlantic Sun Conference is a college athletic conference operating in the Southeastern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I; it does not sponsor football. The conference was established in 1978 as the Trans America Athletic Conference...
championships, the last in 2010. Since the program began in 1871, ten Mercer players have advanced to the Major Leagues
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
.
In 2010, Mercer won the Atlantic Sun Conference baseball championship for the first time since 1983. Mercer, with a 37-22 record, advanced to the NCAA Division I Atlanta Regional where the team defeated Elon University
Elon University
Elon University is a private liberal arts university in Elon, North Carolina, United States. Formerly known as Elon College, it became Elon University on June 1, 2001. The campus is a botanical garden and features oak trees, brick sidewalks, fountains, and lakes...
, but lost to Georgia Tech and the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
. The team finished the season with a 38-24 record, one of the most successful in university history.
Lacrosse
Mercer announced in June 2009 it would add men's lacrosseLacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
for the 2010-11 academic year and women's lacrosse beginning in the 2011-12 academic year. The programs are the first in Georgia at the NCAA Division I level. The men's lacrosse team picked up the program's first NCAA win on March 19, 2011 against Carthage College
Carthage College
Carthage College is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Situated in Kenosha, Wisconsin midway between Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the campus is on the shore of Lake Michigan and is home to 2,500 full-time and 900 part-time...
17-13.
Facilities
Mercer opened the University Center on the Macon campus in 2004. The $40 million 230000 square feet (21,367.7 m²) center houses Mercer's athletics department, a 3,500-seat basketball arenaArena
An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
, an indoor pool, work-out facilities, intramural basketball courts, an air-rifle range, offices, a food court, and numerous meeting facilities. Mercer's Claude Smith Field
Claude Smith Field
Claude Smith Field is a baseball venue in Macon, Georgia, USA. It is home to the Mercer Bears college baseball team of the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Sun Conference. The facility has a capacity of 500 spectators, with additional berm seating past the right field fence. It is named for Claude...
(baseball), softball, and intramural fields are next to the center along with the university's tennis complex. In 2007, a 101-room Hilton Garden Inn
Hilton Garden Inn
Hilton Garden Inn is a chain of hotels trademarked by the Hilton Worldwide. Hilton Garden Inns are considered to be upscale mid-priced hotels that are designed for both business and leisure travelers. The hotel brand is similar to that of the Courtyard by Marriott brand, a key competitor...
opened on university-owned land adjacent to the University Center.
As of August 2011, the university is evaluating locations for construction of a new lacrosse/football stadium with several sites in Macon, both on-campus and near campus, under consideration.
Championships
Mercer teams have won 10 Atlantic Sun Conference championships (as of November 2010): four baseball, two men's basketball, three men's soccer, and one women's soccer. The most recent championship was the one in women's soccer achieved in November 2010.Atlantic Sun Conference (A-Sun) Championships:
| Baseball | 1979, 1981, 1983, 2010 |
| Basketball (M) | 1981, 1985 |
| Soccer (M) | 1992, 1999, 2001 |
| Soccer (W) | 2010 |