Mercer Bears


The Mercer Bears are the athletic teams of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, United States. Mercer is the only private university in Georgia with an NCAA Division I athletic program and fields teams in eight men's and nine women's sports. The university competes in the Southern Conference for most sports. In 2013, the football team competed in the Pioneer Football League.
Mercer joined the Southern Conference as a full member on July 1, 2014; all university-sponsored sports will compete in the Southern Conference except women's lacrosse and women's beach volleyball, which are not sponsored by the conference.

Sports teams

A member of the Southern Conference, Mercer University sponsors teams in eight men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports:

History and conference affiliations

Mercer was a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association from 1906 to 1911 and from 1919 to 1937; the university won the conference championship in basketball in 1922 and 1924. Prior to 1924, the sports teams were known as the 'Baptists' rather than the Bears. Without leaving the SIAA, which focused mostly on basketball and track, Mercer was a charter member of the Dixie Conference in 1930; the university played football in the new conference from 1930 to 1942 and won the conference championship in 1932. Mercer suspended athletics in 1942 during World War II, but rejoined the Dixie Conference from 1948 to 1954 in all sports. The university won the Dixie Conference tournament championship in basketball in 1951, 1952 and 1954; Mercer won the regular season championship in 1950, 1952 and 1953.
Mercer began competition in women's basketball in 1970; the team won the Southern Women's Athletic Conference championship in 1972. The university, competing in the Georgia Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, won the conference championship in 1974, 1976, 1979, 1980 and 1982. In 1985, Mercer advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four; the team was defeated by Central Missouri State University. Mercer was a charter member of the New South Women's Athletic Conference in 1985–86 and won the conference championship in 1991; the conference merged with the Trans America Athletic Conference the same year.
Mercer became a charter member of the TAAC in 1978 and was the only charter member remaining with the conference before moving to the Southern Conference. The men's basketball team won the conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Division I tournament in 1981; the team was defeated by the University of Arkansas. Mercer won the conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Division I tournament again in 1985; the team was defeated by Georgia Tech.
Mercer discontinued football in 1942. The sport was reinstated in 2013; Mercer competed in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League for the 2013 season.
Mercer joined the Southern Conference on July 1, 2014; the university accepted an invitation on May 30, 2013, and joined alongside East Tennessee State University and Virginia Military Institute. Mercer shifted from non-scholarship to scholarship football when it joined the conference.

Championships

Mercer joined the Southern Conference on July 1, 2014. The university was previously a member of the ASUN Conference ; Mercer won 21 ASUN championships including four in the spring of 2014. Mercer won four championships in its first year in the SoCon.
Southern Conference Tournament Championships
Southern Conference Regular Season Championships
ASUN Conference Tournament Championships
Baseball1979, 1981, 1983, 2010
Basketball 1981, 1985, 2014
Golf 2014
Soccer 1992, 1999, 2001
Soccer 2010

ASUN Conference Regular Season Championships
Baseball2013
Basketball 2003, 2013, 2014
Basketball 1991, 1992
Lacrosse 2014
Soccer 2000, 2002

CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament Championship
The men's basketball team won the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament following the 2011–12 season, the first Atlantic Sun Conference team to win a postseason championship. During the tournament, the team defeated Tennessee State University, Georgia State University, Old Dominion University and Fairfield University en route to the championship game at Utah State University; Mercer won the championship game 70–67. The championship capped the best season in university history; the team finished the season with a 27–11 record.

Athletics director

Jim Cole, a Mercer graduate and a former minor league, professional baseball player in the Milwaukee Brewers system, is Mercer's athletics director. Cole, a former 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 athletics director. Since becoming athletics director, Cole has overseen the addition of men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, and sand volleyball; the reinstatement of football; and the construction of Mercer's football and lacrosse complex.
Cole replaced Bobby Pope who 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. Pope was inducted into Mercer's Hall of Fame in 2010.

Notable coaches

Football

Reinstatement – NCAA Record Wins
On November 19, 2010, Mercer announced the reinstatement of intercollegiate football beginning in the fall of 2013. In 2013, Mercer competed as an NCAA Division I FCS non-scholarship program in the Pioneer Football League; in 2014, Mercer began competing as a scholarship program in the Southern Conference. Reinstatement came after a 70-year hiatus; the university suspended football during World War II and did not revive it. The final game was in 1941.
The modern Mercer football program played its first game on August 31, 2013; the team defeated Reinhardt University before an overflow crowd at the Tony and Nancy Moye Football and Lacrosse Complex. Mercer finished the 2013 season undefeated at home with a 10–2 win–loss record, setting an NCAA Division I record for wins by a start-up football program; Mercer had eight home wins..However, four of Mercer wins were from competing against teams in lower division levels of competition
also an NCAA Division I record tied the same year by Auburn University, the FBS national runner-up, and Sam Houston State University who achieved its eighth victory in the FCS post-season.
Mercer won its first game in the Southern Conference on September 27, 2014; the team defeated Virginia Military Institute on the road in Lexington, Virginia. Mercer finished its first season in the SoCon, and its second season since reinstatement, placing in last place in the SoCon, with an overall 6–6 win–loss record .
History
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 Tech'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 UGA from 1939 to 1960 and as the school's 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.
Bobby Lamb – Head Coach
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 to 2010. He played quarterback at Furman from 1982 to 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. Lamb's record in his first two seasons at Mercer was 16–6.