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Jeff Mercer named Big Ten Coach of the Year

The Hoosiers’ head man claims some hardware in his first season in Bloomington.

By Alex Robbins
In his first year in Bloomington Jeff Mercer led the Hoosiers to 36 wins overall, 17 of those coming in the Big Ten.
Auston Matricardi

Jeff Mercer was named Big Ten Coach of the Year on Tuesday when the league revealed its annual awards for the 2019 season.

In his first year in Bloomington, Mercer led the Hoosiers to their first Big Ten regular season championship since 2014, notching a 17-7 conference record en route to earning the top seed in this week’s Big Ten Tournament. After a rocky 7-8 start, the Hoosiers won 29 of their final 40 games and stormed through the Big Ten, dropping just one series along the way, to positions themselves squarely on the two-seed line for the NCAA Tournament.

Mercer’s award-winning season has been highlighted by a school-record 90 home runs and a high-powered offense that scored more than seven runs per game. The club has also found a rock-solid starting rotation in Pauly Milto, Tanner Gordon, and Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Andrew Saalfrank, who have recorded a combined 3.19 ERA and notched 22 wins.

The Hoosiers will open play in the Big Ten Tournament against the eighth-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes on Wednesday night at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska.

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