2017 Mercer Bears football team
| Mercer Bears | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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 |
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| First season | 1892 | ||
| Athletic director | Jim Cole | ||
| Head coach |
Bobby Lamb 4th year, 24–17 (.585) |
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| Stadium | Five Star Stadium | ||
| Seating capacity | 10,200 | ||
| Field surface | FieldTurf | ||
| Location | Macon, Georgia | ||
| NCAA division | Division I FCS | ||
| Conference | SoCon | ||
| Past conferences | Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association | ||
| Colors | Black and Orange |
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| Mascot | Toby | ||
| Rivals |
Stetson Oglethorpe |
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| Website | MercerBears.com | ||
The Mercer Bears football program is the intercollegiate football team of Mercer University located in Macon, Georgia, United States. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and is a member of the Southern Conference. The team plays its home games at the 10,200-seat Tony and Nancy Moye Football and Lacrosse Complex on the university's Macon campus. The Bears are coached by Bobby Lamb.
Mercer's first football team was fielded in 1892, but the school did not consistently field teams until 1906. The sport was dropped in 1917 and 1918 during U.S. involvement in World War I, but returned after the war. Until 1924, the Mercer Bears were known as the Mercer Baptists. After the 1941 season, with the beginning of U.S. involvement in World War II, Mercer dropped football again, but did not resume the sport after the war. The program was reinstated after a 72-year hiatus in 2013; the first game was on August 31, 2013, Mercer defeated (40-37) Reinhardt University in front of an overflow crowd of 12,172 at the Moye Complex.
The first secretary of the Vacation Bible School Department of Nashville's Baptist Sunday School Department (now Lifeway) was Homer Grice, a prominent Mercer player. Georgia Tech player and later Hall of Fame coach Bill Alexander called Grice "the meanest and toughest guy I ever ran across on a gridiron." Brothers Crook Smith and Phoney Smith were both stars for Mercer.
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