Former men’s basketball head coach Bob Hoffman was named to the university’s 54th Hall of Fame class on Oct. 24 and was officially inducted on Nov. 1 as part of Homecoming week, according to Mercer Athletics.
Hoffman last coached at Mercer in 2019, where he capped off an 11-year stint in that role. He won 209 games, including a major upset over the Duke Blue Devils in the opening round of NCAA March Madness in 2014, while at the helm of the program.
During his tenure, he led the Bears to six postseason tournament berths, 19 postseason tournament victories and 10 power conference wins. They won a school-record 27 games twice under his leadership. For much of his time at Mercer, Hoffman’s teams competed in the Atlantic Sun Conference, where the Bears were often among the conference’s top teams, and Hoffman won Coach of the Year three times while the Bears were members of the A-Sun.
In the 2012-2013 season, Hoffman’s Bears won their first conference championship for the regular season and made the program’s first appearance in the National Invitation Tournament, where they beat the University of Tennessee in the first round.
In 2014, he was awarded the FCA National Basketball Coach of the Year award after Mercer beat Duke. Following the victory, Mercer was presented with an ESPY award for recording the biggest upset in all of college athletics for the year, and the award can be viewed in Heritage Hall in the display case about the Bears upsetting the Blue Devils.
Hoffman and the Bears were just the eighteenth No. 14 seed to knock off a No. 3 seed in the history of the NCAA Tournament.
In a press conference after the historic game, Hoffman responded to a question about where his passion for basketball came from, according to a report at the time from USA Today.
“Well I’m a psycho. I mean, I’m just a big psycho. Whatever I do, I’m all in,” Hoffman said. “Whether it’s at church worshiping, if it’s on the floor coaching, if it’s eating fried chicken, getting my iced tea, I'm all in. I’m going to give all I got and that’s just how I’m wired.”
Hoffman also coached the most recent player to have his jersey retired for the men’s basketball program, Langston Hall. Hall was a crucial part of the Bears’ win over Duke, and he currently plays professionally overseas.
On his 2017-2018 team, there was a trio of 1,000 point scorers including Stephon Jelks, Jordan Strawberry and Demetre Rivers. Both Strawberry and Jelks earned second-team All-SoCon honors.
In that same season, Hoffman won his 500th game as a coach at the men’s collegiate level.
“Coach Hoffman has made an indelible mark on the Mercer basketball program,” Mercer Director of Athletics Jim Cole said in a press release. "Bob always ran his program and mentored his student-athletes in a first-class manner that represented our university well.”
Pariss Nicholson ‘26 is majoring in Journalism and minoring in Media Studies at Mercer University. She hopes to report or write for ESPN after she graduates. Outside of her studies, she likes to read and watch sports games in her room.
