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Last updated on Monday, July 2, 2018
(BLOOMINGTON) - Indiana University is searching for a new head baseball coach.
Former IU Coach Chris Lemonis left the program to become the new head coach at Mississippi State.
Among the possible replacements for the position are the current Wright State Coach Jeff Mercer, and former IU Coach and current Arizona State Coach Tracy Smith.
In July, 2016, Jeff Mercer became the fourth head coach in the history of Wright State baseball and he hit the ground running.
Mercer was tabbed by WSU Director of Athletics Bob Grant to guide the successful program that had back-to-back NCAA Regional Finals appearances and 124 wins over the three previous years. He is the first former Raider player to lead the program.
In 2018, Wright State compiled the first ever top 100 ranked recruiting class in the country for the University (87th nationally) and was named coach of the year. Eleven total members of the Wright State baseball team were recognized by the Horizon League.
In 2018, Wright State compiled the first ever top 100 ranked recruiting class in the country for the University (87th nationally).
In his first season in 2017, the Raiders reached new heights as Wright State received its first-ever top 25 ranking. WSU finished the year at 38-21, 21-9 as freshman pitcher Ryan Weiss was selected as the Freshman of the Year and was chosen to the First Team along with junior second baseman Matt Morrow. Junior pitcher Danny Sexton was named to the Second Team along with junior pitcher Derek Hendrizson and freshman third baseman Seth Gray. Both Weiss and Gray were selected to the All-Freshman Team while Weiss was later named a Freshman All American and the Second Team All Midwest. Sexton signed a free agent contract with the San Diego Padres.
Mercer, who was a two-time All-Horizon League honoree for Wright State in 2008 and 2009, returned to the Raiders as an assistant coach in September 2013 and helped make an immediate impact on the program. WSU set a school record for wins with 43 in 2015 just to break it a year later with 46 wins.
Mercer assisted Lovelady in not only setting records, but also coached six total players drafted by Major League Baseball, including five this past spring. During his three years back at Wright State, the Raiders have had 30 Horizon League honorees, two Horizon League regular-season and tournament titles and two NCAA appearances.
Working with all aspects of the program, Mercer was the recruiting coordinator responsible for bringing in the majority of the talent during this most successful period in the history of Wright State baseball. One of Mercer's primary responsibilities was his role as the hitting coach. In the 2016 season, WSU's 47 home runs were the most in a season since 2009, Coach Mercer's senior year playing for the Raiders. He also worked with the infield and outfield, and coached third base.
Mercer came back to WSU after serving two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach at Western Kentucky University. While there, he primarily worked with pitchers and outfielders, but was also instrumental in the development and organization of baseball camps and handled other day-to-day operations.
Prior to Western Kentucky, Mercer was a volunteer assistant during the 2011 season at the University of Michigan. During his time there, he worked with the catchers and outfielders. Prior to arriving in Ann Arbor, Mercer spent the 2010 season as the graduate assistant coach at Ohio Northern University where he was in charge of the infielders and hitters and was the recruiting coordinator.
A native of Bargersville, Indiana, Mercer played two seasons at Dayton before transferring to Wright State, where he was a two-time First Team All-Horizon League honoree as a first baseman. He was named to the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper All-American Third Team in 2009 after hitting .357 with 26 doubles and 74 RBI. He was also named the Horizon League Player of the Year in 2009 and was named to the league's All-Tournament team after he tied the WSU single-season records for RBI, doubles, games played and games started. In 2009, the Raiders played in the Fort Worth, Texas NCAA Regional.
Mercer earned a degree in organizational leadership from Wright State in 2009. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in Beavercreek.
Former IU Coach and current Arizona State Coach Tracy Smith was named the head coach of the Arizona State Sun Devils baseball program prior to the start of the 2015 season. Smith was the head coach of Indiana from 2006-2014, during which time the Hoosiers appeared in three NCAA Tournaments, advancing to the College World Series once. As the head coach of Miami (OH) from 1997-2005, Smith led the RedHawks to two NCAA Tournaments.
The Sun Devils' only losing seasons occurred in 1963, 2017 and 2018. The Sun Devils had been nationally ranked during at least a part of every season of their 58-year history until 2017. The Sun Devils have finished 27 times in the Top 10, 22 times in the Top 5, and 5 times as the No. 1 team in the nation.
ASU was one of the most successful college baseball programs in the country. The Sun Devils have won five national championships, the fourth-most by any school, and are 2nd only to the University of Southern California in total number of alumni to ever play in Major League Baseball.
Smith played for South Newton High School.
Smith then played four seasons (1985-1988) of college baseball at Miami (OH). In the 1988 MLB Draft, he was selected in the 39th round by the Chicago Cubs. Smith played three seasons of minor league baseball in the Cubs system, advancing to Class A-Advanced before retiring following the 1990 season.
Early in his career, Smith was a junior college head coach and Division I assistant. He spent two seasons (1991-1992) as the head coach of Miami-Middletown. He then served as hitting instructor at Miami from 1993-1994, where he had earned a master's degree in 1992. He moved to Indiana following the 1994 season and served as pitching coach from 1995-1996.
For the 1997 season, Smith returned to Miami to be the Redhawks' head coach. He held the position from 1997-2005. During Smith's tenure, Miami appeared in nine MAC Tournaments and two NCAA Tournaments (2000 and 2005). In 2000, Miami went 1-2 as the #4 seed in the Tempe Regional, winning an elimination game against Creighton. In 2005, they again went 1-2 as the #3 seed in the Austin Regional, defeating Quinnipiac, 35-8, in an elimination game. Miami's 35 runs set a then-NCAA record for runs in an NCAA tournament game.
After making a second NCAA Tournament in 2005, Smith was hired to replace Bob Morgan as head coach of Indiana. In his third season (2008), Indiana made its first Big Ten Tournament appearance since 2003. In 2009, Indiana won the Big Ten Tournament and appeared in the NCAA Louisville Regional, where it went 0-2.
In 2013, the Hoosiers won the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles. For the first time, Indiana was selected to host an NCAA Regional. It won the regional, then won the Tallahassee Super Regional to advance to the program's first College World Series. Smith was named the NCBWA National Coach of the Year.[
On June 24, 2014, Smith was hired to coach Arizona State.
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