Updates: 5:30 p.m. with a Tweet from Hoffman; 1:25 p.m. with Hoffman’s record, and social media reaction

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Ten days short of Mercer’s greatest athletic accomplishment, the man who engineered it is fired.

          Mercer announced with a six-paragraph, 207-word email at 10 a.m. Monday that head men’s basketball coach Bob Hoffman had been fired after 11 seasons, 209 wins, three 20-win seasons, and trips to all four NCAA-sanctioned postseason tournaments.

          Hoffman departs with a record of 209-165, an NCAA Tournament berth and win over Duke, trips to – in consecutive years – the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, the National Invitation Tournament, NCAA, and College Basketball Invitational, and the College Insider.com Tournament again.

          The Bears had four losing seasons in Hoffman’s 11, the first three by a total six games under .500: 16-17 in 2009-10, 15-18 in 2010-11, 15-17 in 2016-17, and 11-20 this year.

          After going 15-18, Mercer 27-11 a year later, and followed up 15-17 with 19-15, a season that included 10 losses by 10 points or less.

          “Coach Hoffman has made an indelible mark on the Mercer basketball program,” athletics director Jim Cole said in the school’s release. “Bob always ran his program and mentored his student-athletes in a first-class manner that represented our university well.

          “Personally, I don’t know of two better people than Bob and Kelly (sic, spelling is Kelli). I know I speak for all Bears in thanking them for the time and effort that they devoted to Mercer University. Bob, his staff and his student-athletes have laid a foundation that our program can build upon and ultimately, I believe, consistently compete for conference championships and national recognition.”

          Hoffman was 13 wins from tying Bill Bibb for most wins in program history. Bibb was 222-194 from 1974-89. Of coaches with more than 100 games coached, Hoffman has the highest winning percentage in program history at 55.9 percent.

          Hoffman’s 27-win teams in 2011-12 and 2013-14 were program records, by four wins, topping the 23-6 team under Mark Slonaker in 2002-03.

          The senior-led Bears beat Duke 78-71 on March 21, 2014, 12 days after knocking off Florida Gulf Coast in Naples, Fla., for the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament title, Mercer’s final men’s game in that conference before joining the Southern Conference.

          Mercer’s run of five straight winning seasons under Hoffman from 2011-12 to 2015-16 was the first time that had happened since 1977-78 to 1981-82 under Bibb, with a top mark of 21-6 in 1978-79.

          Tragedy struck the program – and university and community – when player Jibri Bryan was killed near campus during a drug-related transaction on Feb. 2, 2016. Teammates from the 2013-14 team returned to Macon from all over the country – and beyond – later that week.

          There are some who wonder about that impact on Hoffman and the program in general. The Bears were 17-6 at the time, beat The Citadel on that Saturday, and then lost seven in a row to end up 19-15. A 15-17 and 19-15 season followed, with 20 of the 34 losses by single digits, including to Akron, George Mason, Auburn, LaSalle, UCF, Colorado, Memphis, and Alabama.

          The Bears’ non-conference losses this year were to UAB by eight, Georgia State by two, N.C. State by four, Florida Atlantic by four, Georgia Southern by 15, Florida by eight, and Harvard by four.

          All seven teams are at least three games over .500, three have cracked the 20-win mark, and two are in the top 35 in NCAA RPI with the worst at 152 (FAU, 17-14).

          The Southern Conference is having a historic season with three teams winning at least 25 games: 28-4 Wofford, 28-5 UNCG, and 25-7 Furman. Wofford and Furman have both been ranked in the AP top 25 this season, and the three teams have RPIS of 14, 41, and 57, with 24-9 ETSU at 72nd.

          In the eight regular-season games against those four, Mercer lose by four and nine to Wofford, seven and 27 to UNCG, 13 and 11 to Furman, and four and 19 to ETSU.

          The Bears fell by 11 to Furman on Saturday in the conference tournament.

          Mercer didn’t end the season well, with three straight losses, by 13 to VMI, 27 to UNCG at home on senior day – the Bears had only two – and the conference tournament. The 19-point ETSU loss was followed by two wins, and then the final three games.

          Hoffman was introduced as Mercer’s new head coach on March 27, 2008, replacing Mark Slonaker, who was fired on Feb. 24, 2008.

          He came to Macon with a broad background: three years as head coach of the Southern Nazarene women (88-16, a 31-3 year and NAIA national title); nine as head coach of the Oklahoma Baptist men (243-78, four 30-win seasons); five as head coach at Texas-Pan American (66-77); a season as head coach in the American Basketball Association and NBA D-League; and as an assistant at Oklahoma.

          Kennesaw State is looking for its fifth men’s basketball head coach since Hoffman arrived at Mercer. Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern are on their third head coaches since Hoffman arrived at Mercer. Georgia State is on its second.

          Savannah State is the only program with the same head coach, Horace Broadnax starting with the Tigers in 2005.

          Overall, Hoffman’s college head coaching record is 608-335 (64.5 percent).