List of Mercer Bears head football coaches

The Mercer college football team represents Mercer University as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon). The Bears competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The program has had 21 head coaches, since it began play during the 1891 season. From 2019 to 2023, Drew Cronic was the head coach at Mercer.[1]

Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason[A 1]
No. Order of coaches[A 2] GC Games coached CW Conference wins PW Postseason wins
DC Division championships OW Overall wins CL Conference losses PL Postseason losses
CC Conference championships OL Overall losses CT Conference ties PT Postseason ties
NC National championships OT Overall ties[A 3] C% Conference winning percentage
Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage[A 4]

Coaches

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List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 5]
No. Name
[A 6]
Season(s)
[A 7]
GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1 Dave Beggs 1891 2 0 2 0 .000 0
2 George Stallings 1893 1 0 1 0 .000 0
3 J. D. Winston 1896 3 0 2 1 0.167 0
4 Gordon Saussy 1897 2 0 1 1 0.250 0
5 E. E. Tarr 1906 5 1 4 0 0.200 0 2 0 .000 0 0
6 H. R. Schenker 1907 6 3 3 0 0.500 0 3 0 .000 0 0
7 Frank Blake 1908–1909 15 6 9 0 0.400 0 7 0 .000 0 0
8 Charles C. Stroud 1910–1912 28 15 11 2 0.571 7 10 1 0.417 0 0
9 Lewie Hardage 1913 8 2 5 1 0.313 0 4 1 0.100 0 0
10 Fred A. Robins 1914 9 5 4 0 0.556 0 3 0 .000 0 0
11 Jake Zellars 1915–1916 12 6 16 0 0.500 2 5 0 0.286 0 0
12 David Peacock 1916 4 0 4 0 .000 0 3 0 .000 0 0
13 Maxwell James 1919 2 0 2 0 .000 0 1 0 .000 0 0
14 Josh Cody 1920–1922 29 10 19 0 0.345 3 11 0 0.214 0 0
15 Stanley L. Robinson 1923–1925 28 12 14 2 0.464 9 5 1 0.633 0 0
16 Bernie Moore 1926–1928 27 12 12 3 0.500 7 5 2 0.571 0 0
17 Lake Russell 1929–1940 112 46 61 5 0.433 1 0
18 Bobby Hooks 1941 9 3 6 0 0.333 0 3 0 .000 0 0
19 Bobby Lamb 2013–2019 80 41 39 0.513 24 30 0.444 0 0
20 Drew Cronic 2020–2023 45 28 17 0.622 22 10 0.688 0 0
21 Mike Jacobs 2024–present 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Notes

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  1. ^ Although the first Rose Bowl Game was played in 1902, it has been continuously played since the 1916 game, and is recognized as the oldest bowl game by the NCAA. "—" indicates any season prior to 1916 when postseason games were not played.[2]
  2. ^ A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "—" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.
  3. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[3]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[4]
  5. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season.
  6. ^ Mercer did not have a head coach in 1892 and 1903.
  7. ^ Mercer did not field teams in 1894–1895, 1898–1902, 1904–1905, 1917–1918, and 1942–2012.

References

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  1. ^ Allen, Montezz (December 11, 2019). "Mercer University hires Drew Cronic at new head football coach". WMGT-DT. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  2. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  3. ^ Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  4. ^ Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2009.