Fired Mercer basketball coach Bob Hoffman will lead a new team in Oklahoma, report says

Former Mercer Bear head basketball coach Bob Hoffman is finally off the market.

Hoffman is set to take over as the new head basketball coach at the University of Central Oklahoma.

“We are really excited to welcome coach Hoffman and his family,” Central athletic director Eddie Griffin said in a release. “Bob’s stellar resume speaks for itself and he is just a great person too... I think great things are in store for the Bronchos.”

He was fired by the Bears on March 11 following a first-round exit in the Southern Conference tournament loss to Furman after an 11-20 regular season record.

Hoffman was replaced at Mercer by Greg Gary.

Hoffman was the head coach of the Bears for 11 seasons and notched over 200 wins, wins in the NIT, CIT and CBI tournaments, along with an NCAA tournament victory over Duke in 2014.

Hoffman will now return to his home state of Oklahoma as the coach of D-2 Central Oklahoma Bronchos after former head coach Tom Hankins resigned last week.

This story was originally published July 31, 2019 at 4:37 PM.