Mercer 2019

[whoneedsahug?]

Caught part of the game yesterday against Utah. Many people know much more about the game than I do but I find it necessary to ask, how does one of their players get 7 goals against you? At some point in the game should you make some adjustments? Not taking anything away from the Utah player, he obviously has a lot of talent. This is the 7th year of Coach Hannan's tenure and I continue to wonder if the program is heading in forward direction? My most realistic assessment is the program is moving forward but at a slower rate than many of the other programs that have been around less than 10 years.
I am not close to the program and wonder if any of the people from the old board made their way over here and if so can speak to the fact on the administration/staff being content of where the program is at this point? Is there any concern that they seemed to have been passed up by many much newer programs?

[genesrfree]

Seriously, to lose to a first year program this early is really....well embarassing.

[10stone5]

how does one of their players get 7 goals against you? At some point in the game should you make some adjustments?

That guy could have had 20 shots easy in this game.
He passed up several.
As it was, Stout connected on just under half.

Looks like Utah was missing Jimmy Perkins, a player I liked last year at RMU, for this game.
Holman obviously gave the other kid the green light.

[BeardlessZeus]

Embarrassing loss this weekend. The Bears needed this one to snap the losing streak that has continued into this year. Heading into the last two out of conference game and I'm not feeling too confident about the cold weather.

[whoneedsahug?]

If I were a Las Vegas oddsmaker, I would put the over/under of wins for this season at 2.5. The facilities and school are very solid. Is this program at a better place than it was in 2013 when Kyle took over? The program does recruit very strong academic kids, I think the team GPA has been over (some semesters well over) a 3.0 every semester. Is that sufficient with not much success on the field? Does anyone have the guts to take the over with what they have seen so far this year?

[BeardlessZeus]

The biggest testament to how Mercer is lacking in the coaching department is how well players do when they transfer OUT of Mercer (i.e. Luke Fromert (Towson) & Lucas Wittenburg (Georgetown)). Two very impactful players at their current schools & very underutilized while at Mercer. The SOCON is skyrocketing into legitimacy and Mercer is getting left behind.

[tb toad]

The SOCON is skyrocketing into legitimacy and Mercer is getting left behind.

While several SoCon teams are realizing more legitimacy, I contend that several SoCon teams, such as Mercer, are holding the conference back. For example, if High Point doesn't win the AQ I doubt that they or any other team will get an at-large bid regardless of the OOC wins.

I predict that as the legitimate programs in the conference move on to conferences such as the ACC & Patriot League where they belong, Mercer, and others, will start to improve their standing in a more equal SoCon.

[Hawkeye]

Mercer is tied at 8 with Delaware late in the 3rd. Game is live on youtube.

Mercer is looking for their first win of the season.

[sguy9]

Good battle, 2 goal lead with under 3 min, couldn't hang on. Had a few chances at the end, but a few errors got in the way.

[Yikes]

Story of that program. I would be interested to see how many 4th quarter leads they have surrendered in the past few years. It would be interesting to see richmond and HPU exit the SOCON. No doubt conference AQ would go with them, or at least it should.

[BeardlessZeus]

Bears take on Mount Saint Mary's tomorrow. MSM just upset #14 Richmond , thoughts?

[whoneedsahug?]

The competitiveness against Deleware did suprise me. I agree with you assessment on players leaving and having success, but the player at Georgetown had ample opportunity to contribute and did, he was leading scorer on the team when he transferred out. The Towson player I agree with your point. MSM is going to be a tough one. It looks like VMI is much improved this year also.

[Yikes]

Whataya know?? Mercer comes roaring out to a 6-2 lead in the snow @ mount st marys, ends up losing 9-8. Whatever the opposite of the clutch gene is, the bears seem to have it.

[Brosiedon]

How much is too much? The bears have never seen a winning season, and their closest winning season (7-7 in 2014) was with nearly all Child’s recruits on the field. I question Hannan’s coaching. Watching the game today, the bears are running the same plays that have failed for years under Hannan. It’s like watching a high school team compared to other D1 teams. Not sure how much longer the school will keep Hannan on payroll, or if they even care enough about lacrosse that far down south to want to launch the program in a positive/winning direction.

With that being said i wonder what big time assistant coach has their eyes on Mercer. The Richmond head coach, Dan Chemotti, took over after that program after leaving Loyola and has had great success. So who will be Mercer’s saving grace?

[Brosiedon]

https://41nbc.com/2019/03/11/mercer-fir ... b-hoffman/

2 losing seasons in 3 years and Bob Hoffman of Mercer Men’s basketball is out the door.

[Yikes]

Great game by the bears that very easily could’ve gone their way. They always seem to bring their best on field product against HPU, wonder what their program would look like if they could replicate that every game

[laxmarmot]

Is the issue at Mercer the staff, or the level of support they have to work with. Is the school content with just having a team, or do they want a winner team and will provide the Coach with the tools necessary to reach that goal set by the school and program. I doubt there is a single Head Coach in the college ranks that comes to work everyday with a desire to roll over! But there are lots of Coaches that get their hands tied before they get tossed into the pool.

[whoneedsahug?]

I think you bring up a good point. I cant tell you what is actually going on behind the scenes as that would just be speculation on my part. But I can tell you how it felt with a little historical context. The program's first season was 2011 with the thought of upcoming improvements to the facilities as a new stadium /facilites plan was in the works. Those first two seasons the accomadations were horrible. But a new stadium with top notch facilities were new in 2013 and Hannan was hired the previous summer.

The first coach recruited some good players but the administration wanted to head in a new direction and hired Hannan. There were a few incidents with young men on the team in the early days that did not help them build any good will. Chancellor issued a few if you do that again you are not going to like what happens ulitmatums. I very felt much felt like we were on our island as far as support from the administration. The parents on the team were "encouraged" to contribute and the amount of money that raised as a team fund was substantial. It seemed as though parents were funding much and the administration had a just stay out of trouble and best of luck to you attitude. I really dont know how much parents are expected to contribute at other programs so maybe this is just SOP. It was big numbers and shared with us a group.

This will be a season of at most three wins, most likely it will be a one win season. There were a few games that were very competitive and could have gone either way. Will that be enough for Kyle to keep his job?

[BeardlessZeus]

I can tell you first hand that I paid because of the sins of the first couple years of the program. In fact, my first meeting with the president of the school had to do with an off the field incident that my teammates were caught up in and we were told he would end our program my first week on campus. Great first impression. Through those 4 years campus relations did not improve in the slightest. Yes, football is the top priority in Macon, however making my parents purchase spirit wear because I did not sell the required amount is not a good look for the administration.

At least during those four years there was some improvement (In/Out of Conference wins, playoff contention, etc.) to point to as a reason to back the program from an administrative perspective. But this year I feel is going to be different.

[laxmarmot]

From these two comments it seems that the Admin. has labeled the program a wash out and is willing to toss the entire program out a second story window. It never fails when a few screw ups act like kids just out from under the parents wings go astray, oh wait that is pretty much what every college kids goes through. How about either treating all the screw ups the same. I find it unbelievable that the lacrosse players are the only athletes that stumbled out of the gate. It use rubs me the wrong way when there is even a perception of favoritism or bias. How long before the Admin. moves on and starts fresh with the program, sooner rather than later I hope.