After spending four seasons in an assistant coaching capacity, Mercer men’s basketball’s Doug Esleeck has been promoted to Associate Head Coach, as announced by head coach Bob Hoffman on Thursday.
Esleeck joins his colleague Spencer Wright with an Associate Head Coach title, a position which Wright has occupied since July of 2010.
"Doug is well deserving of this opportunity," Hoffman said. "He’s been a great asset to our program, along with the rest of our support staff. We’re thrilled to elevate him to this level and look forward to his continued success in the future."
Since arriving at Mercer in May of 2010, Esleeck has helped trail blaze Mercer’s ascendance to one of the nation’s premier mid-major programs – most recently represented by the team’s 27-9 season in 2013-14 that concluded in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32.
With Esleeck on the sidelines, Mercer has compiled a 93-50 record over the last four seasons and made postseason appearances in each of the last three years. With his support, the Bears have hoisted banners for the 2012 CollegeInsider.com Tournament Championship, the 2013 Atlantic Sun Regular Season Championship, an NIT Round of 16 berth in 2013, the 2014 A-Sun Regular Season Co-Championship and the 2014 NCAA Round of 32 appearance.
Esleeck is part of a rock-solid staff engineered by Hoffman that will feature the same key figures for the fifth-straight season in 2014-15. Hoffman’s core group of Wright, Esleeck and Assistant Coach Jake Nelp have been together since the start of the 2010-11 season.
Wright, who was promoted from assistant coach to associate head coach in July of 2010, is set to enter his seventh season at Mercer and 13th year overall coaching alongside Hoffman this fall.
Prior to arriving at Mercer in May of 2010, Esleeck was an assistant coach at Gardner Webb for four seasons and the Director of Basketball Operations at UNC Greensboro in 2005-06. Esleeck graduated from the University of North Carolina in 2005 and earned an MBA from Gardner-Webb in 2008.
Stay with HoopDirt for the latest college basketball coaching news and rumors.
