If it's never the players' fault for doing things they're not coached to do - 22-foot shots in traffic, dribble into doubleteams, play bad defense, play selfish offense, not leading and not listening - then one wonders if it's a player doing the criticizing.
Not to say Mercer didn't have problems and obviously Slonaker didn't correct things as much as he should have, but when does all this 'we have talent' start playing like it? Coaches don't coach players to stupid things, but it's the coach's fault when he doesn't sit somebody on the bench for stupid things. When a player says he did something stupid and keeps doing it and whines, how is that the coaches fault other than for continuing to play him?
Somebody will cry about benching a 'great player' who shot Mercer out of rallies all year and started off 0-for-whatever, or one who has no moves, or one who sometimes plays hard and sometimes doesn't. Great players don't have some of the stats that some Bears had.
(Also, what's Southern Cal's record? And Alabama's record? How many AP Top 25 teams aren't ranked? More than you think.)
At some point, players have to look in the mirror. But whoever said about Florence that he'll either get better or sit or that he'd be deep on the bench at a bigger program is right. He went backwards as a player with more experience around him, and now he like the rest of the team has a transition year facing them when they should be pretty good.

Plus, Mercer has been bad in things for so long - and women's basketball, which had all this hype from coaches and administration before the season, has no light at the end of the tunnel; there are some horror stories, and they went backward with more embarrassing losses than the men. There does need to be a culture change, as they say, but there should have been a culture change - and not by firing Slonaker - a long time ago. He was the best spokesman for an athletic department that had no spokesman. There's a list of people who probably should have been let go before him.

But Mercer and Slonaker will move on and survive. Bring back Bibb!

I agree that Slonaker was not the problem. It is a shame that he was let go. He was a very good man, and a good basketball coach. I have a hunch that Mercer might see some big time transfers this summer, and that the grass is not always greener on the other side when it concerns coaches.

OK I'm trying to comprehend all of this..... and I'm sorry but I have to disagree with just about everything you said.

When you have only 2 winning seasons in 11 years, and only one A-Sun tourney win against an 8 seed, that's a problem. I said before I don't want to talk about Slonaker anymore, it's over and done with and the facts are easy to read. I can get another "nice guy" and a "great spokesman" who loses every game too. There's plenty of them out there.

Quote:Coaches don't coach players to stupid things, but it's the coach's fault when he doesn't sit somebody on the bench for stupid things. When a player says he did something stupid and keeps doing it and whines, how is that the coaches fault other than for continuing to play him?

OK.. 2 questions .... where is a player quoted for whining and saying he did a stupid thing? Secondly, is there any option other than benching a player who does things against your coaching? That's the only option you have at that point, or else you admit you have no control.

And WOW... did you really just slam the new women's coach??? Wow... you expected her to turn around the program in 1 year? A program that won just a handful of games will not improve with JUST a new coach. She needs to get her players fully into the system. i.e. - 3 years from now.

And Kennesaw... the grass will be greener, I promise you that. The grass we have now is brown and dead. How can it possibly be any worse? We don't win tourney games now. You can't go down from that.

justathoughtok Wrote:There's a list of people who probably should have been let go before him.

So I missed this line at first... who else could be let go? The coaching staff has been wiped clean. The only other link in the chain is Pope.

I just always liked Slonaker...I can understand you frustration, and I am not attempting to trivialize it, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out...

KennesawBasketball Wrote:I agree that Slonaker was not the problem. It is a shame that he was let go. He was a very good man, and a good basketball coach. I have a hunch that Mercer might see some big time transfers this summer, and that the grass is not always greener on the other side when it concerns coaches.

FYI Slonaker was not "let go" his contract was not renewed. I think Mercer shows great character by letting a coach with his record work until the end of his contract. Slonaker is a very nice guy and I like him a lot, but that didn't win games. 1 successful season out of 11 is not very good.

AD confirms Mercer hosting Tech:
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We certainly appreciate your consideration to join the BearBacker Club for the coming year. With Coach Hoffman on board and some new recruits we look for a good season in basketball as well as all the other sports. Our basketball schedule this coming season includes a home game with Georgia Tech November 22 and membership guarantees you tickets to that game which we know will be sold out.
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On another note: http://www.mercerbears.com/Pdfs/gen/2007...ackers.pdf
This sounds like a great deal for Mercer Fans. $200 - $400 is not that bad a deal for everything you get. I know my wife and I are going to do this for the 2008/2009 sports year.

CWG-- That's great that you joined bearbackers. Thanks for the info. Hopefully a few more fans can find their way to the board here.

I was thinking this morning—and yes, I think too much—I believe it would be great if the athletic department at Mercer would invest in two or three billboards featuring the men’s basketball schedule (this could be changed from season to season to reflect other teams’ schedules such as baseball, soccer, etc… depending on the neighborhood).

I think near Geico would be a great place; maybe there could be like a little electronic ticker to say something like: MERCER HAS A HOME GAME TODAY – SEE YOU THERE!

I also believe I-75 and North Macon (around the new mall) would be great locations.

Another thing I have noticed is that when I am in Athens or Statesboro I cannot walk into a business without seeing UGA and Georgia Southern Sports schedules (the little fold up kind) for customers to take. These things are at gas stations, tire stores, doctor’s offices, chiropractor offices, law firms, gyms, etc… I have only seen similar Mercer schedules (and it was for women’s basketball) at one location in Macon—At Kenetix Gym in North Macon. I think it would be great if these schedules were distributed around town.

These are just ideas. Let me know what you think or if you are so inclined forward the information to the appropriate personnel—

That's a really great idea! I love the idea of a billboard in town to promote specific parts of the schedule. And the little schedules in businesses around town is a no brainer. We should email these ideas to the department.

We have...

So far the response is positive. I will update the board if I hear of any new developments.