He played football at UGA with Kirby Smart. Now he’s taking on coaching job at Mercer

Mercer University has named Drew Cronic as its new head football coach.

The former University of Georgia wide receiver and Sharpsburg, Ga., native has been the head coach at Lenoir-Rhyne since the 2018 season.

“First and foremost, I want to thank Bear Nation and everyone involved in this process for their patience and understanding these last two weeks,” Director of Athletics Jim Cole said in a release. “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.”

In his two seasons as head coach, Cronic engineered a big turnaround for a struggling Lenoir-Rhyne program. The team went from three wins in 2017 to back-to-back seasons with 12 or more wins. His Bears finished at 13-1 and their season ended in a 43-38 loss to West Florida in the Regional Final of the Division-2 playoffs.

Cronic also has experience coaching in the Southern Conference. As the offensive coordinator at Furman in 2017, he led an offense that averaged 34 points per game and ranked in the top 25 in the FCS.

While at Furman from 2002-2010, he also served in multiple roles under previous Mercer head coach Bobby Lamb who was let go from the program on Nov. 24. Lamb went 41-39 during his seven seasons with the program that he helped restart in 2013 after 72 years without football at Mercer.

Mercer is coming off a 4-8 season including a 3-5 record in the SoCon.

“It was important to us that the person selected to lead our program be a credit to Mercer University, as well as a talented football coach,” said Mercer President William D. Underwood. “Drew Cronic impressed us as an outstanding husband, father and mentor to the young men in his program.”

Cronic played for the University of Georgia in the late 1990s alongside current Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart and former Georgia Bulldogs offensive coordinator Mike Bobo.

He will take over immediately as head coach with National Signing Day approaching on Dec. 18.

“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. “This is an exciting time for Mercer Football and I am looking forward to ‘Raising the Bar’ on the gridiron. I’m home.”

This story was originally published December 10, 2019 at 5:36 PM.