Mercer Introduces New Men’s Basketball Head Coach Ryan Ridder

On Friday, Mercer introduced the new Men's Basketball Head Coach Ryan Ridder in a press conference

MACON, Georgia – (41NBC/WMGT) – On Friday evening, Mercer introduced the new Men’s Basketball Head Coach Ryan Ridder in a press conference with Athletic Director Jim Cole, in front of family, assistant coaches, a couple players, and Mercer faithful.

Nearly a month after the announcement became official, Ridder joins the Bears program from UT Martin, where he had been the Head Coach the last three seasons.

The Lexington, Kentucky native becomes the 30th head coach in program history with a combined coaching record sitting at 191-120.

Ridder is dedicated to a Student-Person-Player mentality. The new head coach said “The reason that myself and my staff wake up everyday and coach basketball, is to impact the student athlete experience. It’s my promise as the head coach here, that we’ll work our tails off every single day to make you guys proud…to help build up the next generation. Oh and by the way, we expect to put some banners up there too Jim.”

After the press conference, Coach Ridder explained why he chose to come to Mercer. “The growth of Mercer University is exciting to me” Ridder said. “Having a chance to compete in the SOCON conference which is one of the best mid major leagues in the country, and I think we have the resources to compete at the top of the league. Obviously, being in the southeast, I have got family in Florida, so you tie all those things together and this thing really became a no-brain-er for us.”