With the recent hire of head coaches Ryan Ridder for men’s basketball and Michelle Clark-Heard for women’s basketball, Mercer basketball is set to embark on a new chapter this season. Announced last semester, these coaching changes bring a history of success and transformation to two programs that were often stuck in second gear.
Ryan Ridder: Revitalizing men’s basketball
Formerly the head coach for UT Martin’s Skyhawks, Ryan Ridder joined Mercer’s men’s team with a proven ability to elevate struggling programs. At UT Martin, he turned around a team that hadn’t seen a winning season in years, not only leading the Skyhawks to success but also being recognized nationally on ESPN’s “40 Under 40” list, which highlights the NCAA’s most promising young coaches.
In a March 2024 article, The Cluster reported that Coach Ridder arrived at Mercer at a pivotal time, inheriting a team that has been in the bottom half of the Southern Conference and hasn’t had a winning season since 2020/21. His focus on skill development and high-energy gameplay aligns with Athletic Director Jim Cole’s vision for an engaging and competitive Mercer team. UT Martin averaged 81.5 points in Ridder’s final season there, a full 10 points higher than Mercer’s 71.2 average last season.
With the Bears losing two of their top four scorers from last season, Ridder’s will have to develop new players on his roster from the start of the season.
“Coach Ridder has shown throughout his career that he excels in skill development, which will help bring out the best in our returning student-athletes,” Cole said in a press release following Ridder’s hiring.
In the preseason SoCon coaches’ poll, Mercer placed seventh among 10 SoCon teams, a spot ahead of where they finished the 2023/24 season. So far this season, the Bears are 2-2. Their last game was a nine-point loss to South Alabama University, to whom Mercer lost last season by nearly 20 points. Their next game will be in South Carolina to take on the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.
Michelle Clark-Heard: A new era for women’s Basketball
Michelle Clark-Heard stepped in as Mercer’s eleventh women’s basketball head coach this past March, following a standout career that spanned multiple institutions, including Western Kentucky University and the University of Cincinnati. Known for her strong recruiting skills and high-energy coaching, Clark-Heard has led teams to impressive turnarounds and championship titles, according to previous reporting from The Cluster.
Her experience from her time as assistant athletic director of women’s basketball at Mississippi State University and during her stint with the U.S. U-23 Women’s National Team may help her bring sustained success back to the program.
Clark-Heard’s career has been defined by a pattern of reversing downward trends, most notably at Western Kentucky, where she amassed a 154-47 overall record and led the team to four NCAA tournament appearances. “Her passion, energy, knowledge of the game, and recruiting acumen are all characteristics that make her a perfect fit for Mercer,” Mercer’s chief operating officer, Sybil Blalock, said in a press release.
For a women’s team that last achieved a winning season in 2021/22, a new coaching staff may be the catalyst for renewed success in the program. Clark-Heard enters the SoCon with the conference’s second-highest winning percentage (.631), behind only the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Deandra Schirmer, who won 78.6 percent of the games she coached prior to taking Chattanooga’s gig this year.
Four games into the season, Mercer is 2-2. The Bears will take on Clark-Heard's previous school, Mississippi State, on Wednesday, Nov. 20, and will return to Hawkins Arena on Friday, Nov. 22.
