MACON, Ga. — At Five Star Stadium, the Mercer Bears are gearing up for a new season under Head Coach, Drew Cronic.
Though this will be Cronic’s second season with the program, it’s his first standard fall season, as last year saw the Bears play many games in the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite spending such a short time in Macon thus far, Cronic has already checked a couple boxes; in his first year he led the Bears to their winningest Southern Conference season since joining the league, with five conference wins and three over ranked opponents.
Still, there’s progress to be made, and nobody knows it better than Mercer’s head coach.
Acknowledging that Mercer has never achieved “anything special,” Cronic is now intent on asking his team to "raise the bar" this fall, which has become a rallying cry for this 2021 group.
Changing the culture of Mercer’s program is certainly a tall ask, but Cronic knows there’s a recipe for success.
“You get a high percentage of guys doing things right at a high percentage of the time,” Cronic said.
“We've got to get that as close to 100 percent as possible and that's a collective thing. I think our kids are bought into that, we're still learning how to do it all the time. And then every year, we're in the hunt. Every year we got a chance.”
As for Cronic’s team itself, the Bears understand the message.
“He coaches us real hard, he wants the best for us,” sophomore safety Lance Wise said. “He's been to that place before. He's won championships before. He's been that guy. So we trust him and we listen to him, he won't lead us in the wrong direction.”
The Bears get set to host their season opener before a full capacity crowd on Sept. 2 against the Point University Skyhawks.
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