Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- gary_gg@mercer.edu
Head coach Greg Gary begins his fifth season leading the Mercer men’s program in 2023-24. Gary’s squads have recorded 65 wins in his first four seasons. The 51 wins earned in his first three seasons are the most by any coach in school history.
In 2022-23, the Bears logged 14 wins, including season sweeps of ETSU, The Citadel, and VMI. The Bears added another win against The Citadel in the first round of the Southern Conference Championships to advance to face Furman in the Quarterfinals. Mercer held a lead over the eventual-champion Paladins but came up just short. Gary coached two players to All-Conference honors as Jalyn McCreary was named to the All-Southern Conference Third Team, and Jah Quinones earned an All-Freshman Team selection. McCreary was named SoCon Player of the Week after back-to-back 26-point showings along with a double-double against The Citadel. The 2022-23 squad etched its name in program history, draining the most field goals in a single game against Milligan with 46. McCreary certainly contributed to this effort with 228 on the season, ranking eighth in program history. The 851 field goals made in the season entered at 10th in the record book. The Bears started the season with incredible assist numbers, breaking the single game assist record against Milligan with 31 and tying it less than a month later against Middle Georgia State. 118 points scored against Milligan set a new program record, previously unbroken since 2014.
Gary's third season in charge saw the Bears advance to the Southern Conference Championship Quarterfinals after defeating Western Carolina by 28 points in the first round of the tournament. Mercer notched 16 wins, including eight in conference play. The Bears posted a five-game winning streak early in non-conference play and recorded a three-game win streak once league play began. Mercer took both meetings against UNCG for the season sweep of the Spartans. Gary guided two players to All-Conference honors as Felipe Haase was named to the All-Southern Conference Second Team and Jordan Jones earned a spot on the All-Freshman Team. The 2,325 points scored during the season landed ninth in Mercer's record book for single season scoring total. The 2021-22 squad also set a new Mercer program record with a 77% free throw percentage. Jalen Johnson led this charge, shooting 89.5% from the charity stripe which ranks third in Mercer history. More history was cemented as the Bears made a program-high 17 three-pointers against VMI. Johnson made eight of these, adding to his season total of 76 which placed him eighth in the records for most triples made in a season. The 268 made by the team ranks fourth in program history.
Gary led the Bears to 18 wins in year two and 17 wins in year one. In his second season in charge, he led the Orange & Black to its first Southern Conference championship game since the University joined the conference prior to the start of the 2014-15 academic year. Mercer got off to a hot start in 2020-21 beginning the year 6-0 for the first time since the 1966-67 campaign. In just the second game of the season, the Bears defeated Georgia Tech on the road, 83-73, for the team’s first win over a Power Five opponent under Gary’s tutelage. In a nationally televised game against Wofford, redshirt senior guard Ross Cummings reached a pair of milestones, scoring his 1000th career point and knocking down his 200th three-pointer. Cummings finished his time with the Orange & Black with 246 career three-pointers, the second-most in program history behind Langston Hall’s 257, and 1,244 points, the 16th-best total in Mercer men’s hoops history. The Bears entered the Southern Conference tournament led by a pair of All-SoCon selections in Cummings (Second Team Coaches, Third Team Media) and Neftali Alvarez (Third Team Coaches and Media). The seventh-seeded Bears promptly dispatched No. 10 Samford, 87-59, No. 2 Wofford, 61-60, and No. 6 VMI, 73-59, to reach the winner-take-all championship game against UNCG. A trio of Bears – Alvarez, Leon Ayers III and Felipe Haase – earned all-tournament honors as Mercer finished as the runner-up. Mercer led the SoCon and finished 11th nationally with 479 total assists, and the Bears concluded the 2020-21 season with an RPI higher than multiple P5 schools including Duke, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Miami, NC State and a host of others.
By virtue of 17 wins in year one, Gary is tied for the most victories by a first-year head coach in Mercer men’s basketball program history. His first season in Macon was notable due to several team and individual accomplishments – including a record 30 assists by the Bears in a 106-66 rout of Samford. His nephew, Jeff Gary, tied the Hawkins Arena record for made three-pointers in that same contest with eight. Gary led Mercer to six consecutive Southern Conference victories from January 15 – February 1, 2020, which was the program’s longest winning streak since 2017-18. On February 4, the team was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division I Team of the Week thanks to wins at ETSU and in Hawkins Arena against The Citadel. The Bears were the only team to defeat ETSU on its home floor in 2019-20.
At season’s end, Mercer secured the No. 4 seed in the Southern Conference tournament but bowed out to Western Carolina. Three players – Djordje Dimitrijevic, Ethan Stair and Kamar Robertson – earned All-SoCon honors. Dimitrijevic also earned NABC Second Team District XXI recognition and was named a Second Team College Sports Information Association of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America, becoming the first Mercer men’s basketball player to accomplish such a feat since Will Emerson in 2006.
Off the court, the Bears earned the NABC's Team Academic Excellence Award, which was given to teams that had a 3.0 GPA or higher for the 2019-20 academic year. Three of Gary's players - Dimitrijevic, Victor Bafutto and Mitch Prendergast - were named to the NABC's Honor Court.
Gary was appointed head coach on March 26, 2019. He was introduced as the program’s new leader at a formal introductory press conference on April 3, 2019.
“When we set out to look for a new head coach, we recognized Greg early in the process as someone we were confident in leading our men’s basketball program,” said Director of Athletics Jim Cole at the time of Gary’s hire. “Greg not only stood out for his proven background and style of play, but for the role he has played as a mentor to student-athletes throughout his career as well as his commitment to growing them into leaders off the court. We’re so happy for Greg, his wife, Claudia, and his children – Gabrielle, Logan, Alexandra, Brooklyn and Nash – to be joining our Mercer Family.”Â
A veteran coach entering his 29th year at the NCAA Division I level, Gary spent the eight seasons prior to his arrival in Macon working under Matt Painter at Purdue University. He helped the Boilermakers reach the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight in 2019 and make back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances in 2017 and 2018.
Gary has made 16 postseason appearances as a college assistant and player, reaching the NCAA Tournament nine times.
His on-court focus for the Boilermakers centered on the development of their wing and post players. Calling Purdue’s offensive sets, Gary helped Purdue lead the Big Ten Conference in scoring in two of his last three seasons with the nation’s second-most efficient offense. The Boilermakers led the Big Ten in three-point percentage and free throw percentage while ranking second nationally in assists per game during the 2016-17 season.Â
Gary’s guidance was significant in the improvement of Purdue standouts Vincent Edwards, Ryan Cline and Dakota Mathias during the 2016-17 campaign. During that season, Edwards made a jump from the power forward to small forward position and led the team in assists while ranking second on the team in scoring and third in rebounding.
In 2014-15, Gary had a large impact on the development of Mathias, Rapheal Davis, and Kendall Stephens and helped the Boilermakers to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. Gary’s tutelage helped Davis become the Big Ten’s best defensive player, while also improving his offensive game. In Big Ten games, Davis averaged 12.2 points per game, a 5.3 points per game improvement from the previous season. He also improved his three-point shooting 13.2 percent from his freshman to his junior year.
In 2012-13, Gary oversaw an influx of youth in the Boilermaker frontcourt and helped guide center A.J. Hammons through one of the finest freshman seasons in program history. Hammons earned Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors after finishing the season with averages of 10.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. He led the Big Ten with an average of 2.3 blocks per contest in league play, and wrapped up the campaign ranked second on Purdue’s freshman charts in blocks (67), third in rebounds (204) and sixth in points (359).
Gary’s first season in West Lafayette was a successful one, as he helped guide the Boilers to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth year in a row. Forward Robbie Hummel was named an honorable mention All-American and received first team All-Big Ten recognition after leading Purdue in scoring, rebounds and blocked shots. Hummel was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft, becoming one of 12 players to be drafted by an NBA franchise or spend time on an NBA roster after receiving Gary’s guidance.
Gary came to Purdue from two stints at Duquesne, where he spent the 2007-08 and 2010-11 seasons as an assistant coach, sandwiched around two seasons as head coach at Centenary. Gary resigned from his post at Centenary after the school announced in July 2009 that it would seek reclassification as an NCAA Division III member. A program that had won a total of 10 Summit League games in the four years prior to Gary’s arrival, Centenary posted nine league wins in his two seasons at the helm.
Prior to arriving at Duquesne, Gary spent three seasons (2004-07) as an assistant coach at South Florida, helping the Bulls transition from Conference USA to the Big East. While in Tampa, Gary worked with big man Solomon Jones, who was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in 2006 and played parts of seven seasons in the NBA.
Gary served as an assistant coach under Perry Clark at Miami from 2000-04, helping lead the Hurricanes to the NIT in 2001 and the NCAA Tournament in 2002. During his tenure at Miami, Gary aided in the development of former NBA players James Jones and John Salmons, as well as former NBA player Robert Hite. He also served as the `Canes’ academic coordinator.
Gary spent six of his first seven years (1993-97, 1998-00) in the coaching industry at Tulane, helping guide his alma mater to the NCAA Tournament in 1995 and the NIT on four occasions. In his second stint with the Green Wave, he also served as the team’s recruiting coordinator and oversaw academics for the student-athletes. At Tulane, Gary coached three players – Jerald Honeycutt, Linton Johnson and Chris Owens – who spent time on NBA rosters.
Gary served as an assistant coach at McNeese State for the 1997-98 campaign.
After graduating from Anderson Highland High School in 1988 and spending a year at Aquinas College in Nashville, Tenn., Gary transferred to Tulane. He was a vital component in the revitalization of a program that was dropped in 1985 and reinstated in 1988, leading the Green Wave to the 1992 NCAA Tournament as a senior. Despite playing only three seasons in New Orleans, Gary finished his career as Tulane’s all-time leader in assists and now ranks fifth (370). He is second in career assist-to-turnover ratio (1.97).
Gary and his teammates, including assistant coach Kim Lewis from the 1991-92 Green Wave team, the first in program history to make the NCAA Tournament, were inducted into the Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame in April of 2020.Â
A native of Anderson, Indiana, Gary was born on February 14, 1970. Gary earned a B.S. in sport management from Tulane in 1992. He and his wife, Claudia, have four daughters, Gabrielle, Logan, Alexandra and Brooklyn, and one son, Nash.
