Mercer hires Drew Cronic as head football coach

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Mercer University announced its next head football coach Tuesday night.

Drew Cronic, a Georgia native who played football at the University of Georgia and coached under former Mercer head coach Bobby Lamb at Furman from 2002-2010, is Lamb’s replacement.

Cronic comes to Macon after two seasons as head coach at NCAA Division II Lenoir-Rhyne. His teams there won conference titles in 2018 and 2019.

“First and foremost, I want to thank Bear Nation and everyone involved in this process for their patience and understanding these last two weeks,” Mercer Director of Athletics Jim Cole said. “A special thanks to Sybil Blalock for taking a large role in this process. We could not have done it without her.  We had the opportunity to interview and vet some tremendous candidates. In that process, one candidate’s passion, intensity and desire to win was evident from the start.

“Coach Drew Cronic brought that to the table. I cannot wait to see Drew implement his system and winning culture at Five Star Stadium. We’re so happy for Drew, his wife, Amelia, and his three sons – Noah, Elijah and Isaiah – to be joining our Mercer Family.”

Lenoir-Rhyne went 3-8 in 2017 before going 25-3 under Cronic’s leadership in 2018-19.

“It is a dream come true to be back in my home state of Georgia and to be working at a great institution like Mercer University,” Cronic said. “I am excited for this opportunity and I am looking forward to working with President Underwood, Jim Cole and the rest of the Mercer Family. This is an exciting time for Mercer Football and I am looking forward to ‘Raising the Bar’ on the gridiron. I’m home.”

Cronic was head coach at Reinhardt University in 2015 and 2016. He’s also worked as an assistant at James Madison University.

He played quarterback for East Coweta High School and was a wide receiver and member of special teams at UGA in the 1990s.