24 Facts About Mercer Bears

Mercer Bears are the athletic teams of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, United States.

Mercer Bears 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.

Mercer Bears began competition in women's basketball in 1970; the team won the Southern Women's Athletic Conference championship in 1972.

Mercer Bears became a charter member of the Trans America Athletic Conference in 1978 and was the only charter member remaining with the conference before moving to the Southern Conference.

Mercer Bears won the conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Division I tournament again in 1985; the team was defeated by Georgia Tech.

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The sport was reinstated in 2013; Mercer Bears competed in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League for the 2013 season.

Mercer Bears shifted from non-scholarship to scholarship football when it joined the conference.

The university was previously a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference; Mercer Bears won 21 Atlantic Sun championships including four in the spring of 2014.

Mercer Bears won four championships in its first year in the SoCon .

Mercer Bears became athletics director in 1989 and oversaw construction of the University Center and renovation of the baseball, softball, and tennis facilities.

In 2013, Mercer Bears competed as an NCAA Division I FCS non-scholarship program in the Pioneer Football League; in 2014, Mercer Bears began competing as a scholarship program in the Southern Conference.

However, four of Mercer Bears wins were from competing against teams in lower division levels of competition 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.

Smith was an All-American halfback and is Mercer Bears's all-time leading scorer; he scored 176 points and later played for the semi-professional Ironton Tanks.

Mercer Bears did not maintain this level of success, which prompted the university to hire a new head coach.

Mercer Bears received national attention in November 2007 when the team defeated USC, which was ranked 18th in the nation at the time of the game.

Mercer Bears had opened the season ranked first in the conference preseason standings; during the season, notable wins included victories over defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion Florida State and Alabama.

In 2014, Mercer Bears won the conference regular season championship for the second year in a row and the conference tournament championship; the team defeated Florida Gulf Coast for the tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1985.

Mercer Bears defeated Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Tennessee in the third round.

In recent years, Mercer Bears has won five Atlantic Sun Conference championships including the university's first regular season title in 2013.

Mercer Bears opens each baseball season with the annual First Pitch Classic.

In 2010 under head coach Craig Gibson, Mercer Bears won the conference tournament championship for the first time since 1983.

In 2013, Mercer Bears won the conference regular season championship and advanced to the NCAA Division I Starkville Regional losing to the University of South Alabama and the University of Central Arkansas.

Mercer went on to win the conference regular season championship ; the Bears were defeated in the opening round of the conference tournament.

Mercer Bears opened the University Center on the Macon campus in 2004.