Craig Gibson is an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

coach and former

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He has been the head baseball coach at

Mercer University Mercer University is a Private university, private Research university, research university in Macon, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the s ...

since the start of the 2004 season. Under Gibson, Mercer has appeared in its first two NCAA tournaments. A Macon native, Gibson is a Mercer alumnus and played baseball for the Bears from 1983–1986, winning a conference player of the year award as a junior.

Coaching career

After he completed his playing career and

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ed ...

at Mercer in 1986, Gibson spent the next two seasons as an assistant coach at Mercer while earning his

graduate degree Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor ...

. He left after the 1988 season and spent the next six years as a high school coach in

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

. He returned to Mercer as an assistant for the 1994 season. After a ten-year stint as a Mercer assistant in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Gibson succeeded Barry Myers as the Bears' head coach for the start of the 2004 season. For his first two seasons,

Link Jarrett Lincoln "Link" Jarrett (born January 26, 1972) is an American college baseball coach and former shortstop, who is the current head coach of the Florida State Seminoles baseball, Florida State Seminoles. Jarrett played college baseball at Florida ...

, who would later coach against Gibson in the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

UNC Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. It is accredited by the Southern Association of College ...

, served as one of Gibson's assistants. The Bears made their first postseason appearance under Gibson in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, when they finished 3rd in the

Atlantic Sun Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

(A-Sun) to qualify for the A-Sun tournament. As the second seed (second-place

North Florida North Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida comprising the northernmost part of the state. Along with South Florida and Central Florida, it is one of Florida's three most common "directional" regi ...

was ineligible), Mercer went 2–2. They defeated East Tennessee State in the opening game, then lost to

Stetson Stetson is an American brand of hat manufactured by the John B. Stetson Company. "Stetson" is also used as a generic trademark to refer to any campaign hat, particularly in Scouting. John B. Stetson gained inspiration for his most famous ...

, 6–5 in extra innings, in their second. In the losers bracket, the Bears knocked out top-seeded

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

before being eliminated with another one-run loss to Stetson. Mercer made three more A-Sun Tournament appearances from 2007–2009 before reaching its first NCAA tournament in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. At the A-Sun tournament, Gibson's team went 4–0 to win the conference's automatic bid, defeating East Tennessee State and Jacksonville two times each. Gibson said of the win, "It’s an unbelievable feeling to win here and to be going to the NCAA tournament. It’s about those 27 guys that care for each other, love each other and play hard for each other. It’s the best group I’ve had, as far as chemistry goes. I’m really proud of them." As the third seed in the Atlanta Regional, Mercer went 1–2. Georgia Tech shut them out in the opener, then defeated Elon before being eliminated by

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. The Bears returned to the NCAA tournament in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and went 0–2 in the Starkville Regional. Gibson was named the 2013 A-Sun Coach of the Year, and Kendall Rogers of

Perfect Game Perfect game may refer to: Sports * Perfect game (baseball), a complete-game win by a pitcher allowing no baserunners * Perfect game (bowling), a 300 game, 12 consecutive strikes in the same game * Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, New Yo ...

named him a rising college coach after the season. Gibson's players have received many individual honors during his tenure, including major conference awards.

Third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

Chesny Young was named A-Sun Rookie of the Year in 2012 and Player of the Year in 2013.

Shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

Michael Massi was the 2014 Defensive Player of the Year. Between 2004–and 2014, 14 Mercer players were taken in the

Major League Baseball Draft The Major League Baseball draft (officially the Rule 4 Draft; also known as the first-year player draft or amateur draft) is the primary mechanism by which Major League Baseball (MLB) assigns amateur baseball players from high schools, colleg ...

Cory Gearrin Cory Nathanial Gearrin (born April 14, 1986) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, New York ...

, taken in the fourth round in the

2007 Major League Baseball Draft The 2007 Major League Baseball draft, was an annual choosing of high school and college baseball players, held on June 7, 2007 and June 8, 2007. The first day session of the draft included the first 25 rounds and was scheduled to be broadcast "l ...

, played for the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

from 2011–2013.

Head coaching record

Below is a table of Gibson's yearly records as a collegiate head baseball coach.

References

External links

2014 Interview with Gibson
at Macon.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Craig 1960s births Living people Sportspeople from Macon, Georgia Mercer Bears baseball players Mercer Bears baseball coaches Baseball coaches from Georgia (U.S. state) Year of birth missing (living people)

Coaching career

Head coaching record

See also

References

External links