Mercer hires a new football coach to help team build on school’s recent success
Mercer University announced it has hired veteran head coach Mike Jacobs to lead its football team.
Jacobs will replace Drew Cronic after Cronic departed to become the offensive coordinator for the Navy Midshipmen.
Jacobs was the head coach at Notre Dame Ohio from 2016-19 before he moved on in 2020 to become Lenoir-Rhyne’s head coach, where he stayed until Mercer hired him Thursday.
Jacobs notched a combined 74-17 record as a head coach with the two schools, both of which are Division II. He led Lenoir-Rhyne to the semifinal round of the Division II playoffs in the 2023 season.
“My family and I are humbled to be joining the Mercer University Football family,” Jacobs said in the press release. “Mercer is an elite institution that has competed at the highest level both on the field and in the classroom. We look forward to immersing ourselves in both the campus community and the city of Macon. Go Bears!”
Jacobs will take over a Division I program for the first time and try to continue the success Mercer found at the FCS level under Cronic. The Bears went 9-4, made the FCS playoffs for the first time and won their first-round matchup at home against Gardner-Webb last season.
The playoff appearance came on the heels of two close losses to end the 2022 and 2021 seasons — one by three points, the other in double overtime — that left Mercer just out of the postseason picture. The three seasons of contention under Cronic were the Bears’ high water mark since the football program was revived in 2013.
“Our goal throughout this process was to find not only a leader with a track record of success, but also one who will continue to build on the success that our program has already experienced,” Mercer’s Athletic Director Jim Cole said in a statement. “I am excited to welcome Mike, his wife, Lacey, and their two sons, Luke and Knox, to the Mercer Bears family.”
Jacobs is also known for his time as a player at Ohio State University from 1997 to 2001, where he was an offensive lineman. He also acted as an offensive line assistant at Eastern Michigan in 2002 and 2003, according to a press release.
Mercer’s 2024 football schedule may prove a tough introduction to Division I head coaching for Jacobs, as the Bears must go on the road to face the Alabama Crimson Tide in November in a non-conference game.
Other big challenges for Mercer include hosting Princeton Oct. 12, traveling to battle longtime conference rival Chattanooga, and playing defending Southern Conference champion Furman at home to close out the season.
Mercer’s season opens Aug. 29 at Five Star Stadium in Macon against Presbyterian.
