First year Mercer men’s basketball head coach Ryan Ridder has announced his coaching staff for the upcoming 2024-25 season.
Coach Ridder and the men’s basketball program are excited to welcome the following three assistant coaches for the upcoming season. Joining the Bears are Jonathan Mitchell, Reed Ridder, and Ben Witherspoon.
Jonathan Mitchell
Hometown: Mount Vernon, N.J.
Alma Mater: Rutgers
Mitchell joins Mercer after spending one season as an assistant coach with NBA G League’s Birmingham Squadron.
Mitchell worked with G League players on their continual development of their game in hopes of being called up to the NBA. The Squadron had six player and staff callups to the NBA this past season. They also ranked fourth in the G League in points per game.
Before joining the Birmingham Squadron, Mitchell’s most recent coaching stop at the collegiate level was at Stetson University where he was an assistant coach for four seasons from 2019-2023.
Mitchell coached three All-Conference players and two ASUN Freshman of the Year players over his four seasons at Stetson.
In his last season at Stetson in 2022-23, the Hatters had one of their best seasons in program history, going 12-6 in conference play which was the second-best conference record in school history. That season, the Hatters ranked third in the ASUN in scoring and field goal percentage.
Prior to his time at Stetson, Mitchell spent one season in 2018-19 at Georgia under head coach Tom Crean where he served as a graduate assistant.
Prior to beginning his coaching career, Mitchell embarked on a seven-year professional career, playing in several European countries including Spain, Israel, France, Greece, Hungary, and Iceland.
As a collegiate student-athlete, Mitchell was a reserve forward on Florida’s 2007 NCAA Championship squad as a freshman. During his sophomore season, he appeared in 35 games for the Gators before transferring to Rutgers for his final two years. In two seasons with the Scarlet Knights, Mitchell was highly productive as a player, averaging 11.8 points and 6.1 rebounds as a junior, and leading the team in scoring at 14.4 points per game while being named All-Big East as a senior.
In high school, Mitchell was named as the New York State Gatorade Player of the Year in 2006.
Mitchell graduated from Rutgers in 2011 with a degree in Communications.
Reed Ridder
Hometown: Ormond Beach, Fla.
Alma Mater: Embry-Riddle
Ridder joins his brother Ryan on the Mercer coaching staff after spending the previous two seasons as an assistant coach at UT Martin.
Last season at UT Martin, the Skyhawks boasted NCAA Division I’s 23rd-ranked scoring offense (81.5 points/game), while also showcasing one of the nation’s top rebounding teams as well. The Skyhawks captured 12 of their final 14 regular season contests to claim a share of the OVC regular season crown and the No. 2 seed in the OVC Tournament. It was just the ninth time in the 73-year history of the program that the Skyhawks had rattled off 20 or more victories, and the first time it had accomplished that feat since the 2016-17 campaign.
In 2022-23, the Skyhawks finished second in school history in scoring (2,658 points) and rebounding (1,293) while ranking in the top-15 in NCAA Division I men’s basketball and topping the OVC in defensive rebounding per game (28.7, seventh), fast break points (15.09 per game, ninth), scoring offense (80.5 points per outing, 14th) and rebounding per game (39.18, 15th).
The Skyhawks set a school record for most single-season All-OVC honorees (three) in 2022-23 in Parker Stewart (first team), Jordan Sears (first team and All-Newcomer) and KJ Simon (second team).
Prior to joining UT Martin, Ridder spent one season as an assistant coach at Daytona State in Daytona Beach, Florida. While at Daytona State, Ridder was instrumental in the development of a trio of NJCAA All-Central Conference honorees while Daytona State ranked third in the country in three-point field goals per game (10.2).
Ridder spent one season at Georgia Southern in a recruiting/player development role. He helped the team to a 13-13 season in the first year of a rebuilding process. After the Eagles returned just two scholarship players from the previous season (the fourth least amount in NCAA Division I), Georgia Southern led the Sun Belt Conference with 15.8 forced turnovers per contest.
As a graduate assistant at Georgia from 2018-2020, Ridder worked closely with a pair of eventual NBA Draft picks in Anthony Edwards (No. 1 overall pick in 2020) and Nicolas Claxton (No. 31 overall pick in 2019). Edwards was crowned as Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year before the Minnesota Timberwolves made him the first Bulldog to become the top pick in the NBA Draft.
As a player, Ridder racked up 1,003 career points at a pair of NCAA Division II universities. He spent his freshman season at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. before transferring to play his final three years for his father Steve Ridder at Embry-Riddle University in Daytona Beach, Fla.
An Ormond Beach, Fla. native, Ridder graduated from Embry-Riddle with a degree in business administration in 2016. He later earned his master’s degree in sports administration from Georgia in 2020.
Ben Witherspoon
Hometown: Daytona Beach, Fla.
Alma Mater: Embry-Riddle
Witherspoon joins Mercer after spending the last two seasons at UCF.
Witherspoon has been coaching in the Central Florida area since 2013 and joined the UCF men’s basketball staff in June 2022 as a special assistant to the head coach. He was promoted to an assistant coach role in October of 2023.
The Knights found success in Witherspoon’s first year as an assistant coach, which also happened to be the Black and Gold’s first year in the Big 12 Conference. UCF tallied seven victories during the conference slate, with all wins coming against legacy league foes. The Black and Gold earned three ranked wins along the way, the most in a single season in program history, topping No. 3 Kansas, No. 23 Oklahoma, and No. 23 Texas Tech and holding each to under 65 points.
UCF’s defense was a bright spot once again, with blocks and steals per game ranking top 22 in the nation as well as top 45 in turnovers per game. The Knights earned the No. 12 seed at their inaugural Big 12 Conference Championship, drawing No. 13 Oklahoma State. After erasing a 12-point lead in to win in Stillwater during the regular season, UCF posted a dominant second half at the league tournament, winning 77-62.
The Knights earned their second straight nod to the postseason and fourth in the last eight seasons by taking part in the NIT, earning a No. 4 seed.
As a special assistant to the head coach in 2022-23, Witherspoon had many responsibilities, including video coordination and multiple on-court efforts. UCF won 19 games that season, en route to a postseason NIT berth and win over Florida in the first round.
Prior to joining the UCF men’s basketball staff in June 2022, Witherspoon spent three seasons (2019-2022) as the head men’s basketball coach at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando. As head coach, Witherspoon led the Panthers to unprecedented success.
In 2019, he led his team to its first 20-win season in five years en route to a district championship. He followed up with even greater success in year two as Witherspoon’s Panthers went on to win their first state championship in program history and finished the season nationally ranked. In 2021-22, they were again nationally ranked throughout the entire season and finished as the state runner-up.
Prior to his stint at Dr. Phillips, Witherspoon had two stints at high school powerhouse Montverde Academy as an assistant coach in 2013-14 and 2018-19. In 2013-14, he coached a team with current NBA players Ben Simmons and D’Angelo Russell to an undefeated national championship season.
Witherspoon was also the head coach at Cypress Creek High School in Orlando in from 2016-18. Witherspoon has seen many of his athletes go on to experience great success at the next level.
In his career, he has coached four high-major Division I players, trained and developed a McDonald’s All-American in Ernest Udeh Jr., and had 10 player go on to play college basketball in his three years as head coach of the Panthers.
As a student-athlete himself, Witherspoon played his freshman year at Lipscomb university in 2001 before graduating from Embry-Riddle in 2006.
