For Jeff Mercer's Father, It's Family Before Baseball Every Single Day
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – This is a story about fathers and sons, and sons and fathers. It's a story about baseball, and the family dog, and the familial bonds that can never be broken by the final score of a baseball game.
Jeff Mercer is the baseball coach at Indiana, and in his three years in Bloomington, he's won a Big Ten title his first year, lost a season to the COVID-19 the second year and then has stood in line for daily COVID testing with his players and coaches for more than a year now, in a third year for the ages, a college baseball season unlike any other.
The stresses of a baseball season where all your players are quarantined in their apartments all year and not allowed to go out can add up. And that's just the off-the-field stuff. On the field, life is supposed to go on, regardless of all the issues that get in the way.
At Indiana, that means contending for a league title and making the NCAA Tournament. That's the way it is now. It hasn't always been that way, and Mercer, an Indiana kid himself, knows that all too well because his father, Jeff Mercer Sr., used to be a baseball coach at Indiana too, as an assistant back in the late-1980s.
His dad is a baseball lifer, a coach forever, and he knows the game and all its nuances. And during this COVID-infused season where only family members can attend Indiana home games, the Mercers, Jeff and his wife Pam, are there every game, living with every base hit, every botched double play, every untimely walk.
Three weeks ago, Indiana was in first place in the Big Ten and cruising. But when their back-loaded schedule got tough, the Hoosiers hit the skids, and last Sunday in Bloomington, they lost their fifth game in a row and were eliminated from the Big Ten race. Their NCAA Tournament hopes were on thin ice, too.
The players were feeling the stress in a big way. Jeff Mercer was too, trying to figure out when to push and when to back off, barely sleeping along the way.
Jeff Mercer Sr. was up in the bleachers on that sunny Sunday, watching that fifth straight loss go down.
He was asked about how hard that must be to watch as a long-time former coach and the father of the Indiana coach.
"Well, you have it half-right,'' he said from his home in Harrodsburg, Ind., a few miles south of Bloomington, a few days later. "Right now, when they're going through this, it doesn't matter at all that I'm a former coach.
"All that matters is that I'm the father, and that's my son down there and he's struggling right now. His team is struggling, too, so that's what makes it hard on me. All that matters, all that matters at all, is that that's my son. I find it hard to not be engaged, just sitting up there in the stands. It's a lot easier in the dugout.''
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When Jeff Mercer came home to Bloomington in 2018, his parents were already here, living south of town in Harrodsburg since 2013. It was a no-brainer that Jeff and his wife Stephanie would be close to them, and they parceled off some of their land for the younger Mercers to build a house.
Father and son, now they live right next door to each other. They're always close.
"It's nice to have them there,'' the elder Mercer said. "You'd be surprised, we don't really talk baseball all that much. We talk more about his son – (Grady, who's almost three; we're getting to him in a minute) – his family, or hunting or other stuff. It's nice having them all so close.''
It's nice for the younger Mercer, too, because when he needs his dad, needs his wisdom, needs to pick his brain, he is there.
Right there. Always.
"He always shoots me straight and he's always very honest with me, very direct,'' the 35-year-old Mercer said. "He's always a comforting shoulder, but he's a comforting shoulder with a message, like 'you need to do a better job, or a different job, or find a way.' ''
That was last Sunday, after the losing streak reached five and the frustration level for all involved was off the charts.
"I got home about 9-9:30 and walked down to my parents' house and just talked to my dad and asked him some questions,'' Mercer said. "He asked me what I thought was going on and I gave my my two cents. He said, 'Well, the best way to find out is to go ask somebody.' I do a lot of individual meetings with guys all the time, and nobody knows that. I pull guys in all the time, and I had a couple of guys in that morning. He said, 'I know you're trying. You're trying to help.'
"I think sometimes as coaches, our instruction is our way of showing that we care. We invest, and we coach and coach and coach and we try to show that we care by how much we give of ourselves, but sometimes we get to the point where we over-do it. Sometimes you need to know when to take your foot off the gas a little bit. I'm as guilty as the next guy in poring myself into the kids. Sometimes the kids just need you to be quiet and let them go play baseball.
"It was a really good message from my dad, and something I took to heart. I think those things, where you look back, they matter. We all have responsibility in those things, and I know I do as well.''
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When Jeff Mercer got to the ballpark last Monday, he went with a different mindset, thanks to his dad. It was the final home game of the season, and the message to his players for that final game against Ohio State was to simply clear out their heads and go have fun.
It is, after all, still a kid's game.
"I sat them down talked about my 2-year-old and my dog,'' Mercer said. "My 2-year-old (Grady), he loves that dog. And he shows that he loves that dog by jerking on his tail about five times a day and riding him like a horse. He's a 2-year-old, and that's what they do.
"My dog turns around and snips at my son. You think that they're fighting, but in reality, it's just my son saying 'I love you' and it's my dog saying, 'get off my tail, bro.' I told the kids that story. I told them that I care, that our coaches care. We're so proud of you for what you've done. We have to look at ourselves, too. I told them, when I'm trying so hard to instruct you and help you, that I do care and I do love you. Sometimes it gets hard, between the players and the coaches. You meet with them, and sometimes they're just telling you that's their way of saying you need to back off a little bit.''
That was basically his father's message.
"He was telling me there's more to the story. I listened. I commended the players,'' Mercer said. "Off of what all they've done and sacrificed for this, it's so much more than a lot of people know. I look back at this year in totality, and it's been a really tough year for everybody, Not just us, it's been a tough year for everybody across the world, and these kids playing sports, and it's been a really tough year for these kids. I look back to all the testing, and nearly getting shut down for a month, and all the different protocols we've had to follow and the sacrifices they've had to make.
"Most people have no idea what they've given up. They've given up everything. Every team has had ebbs and flows. Every team has had win streaks, and gotten swept or lost three out of four. A lot of that has to do with all the peripheral things. It's been a very hard year, and most people have no clue what these kids have been through.''
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The parents know, because they've been the only ones who have been able to watch the Hoosiers all season. Even when the Big Ten ended its edict on not allowing fans in the stands, Indiana refused to budge and kept the protocols in place, which angered Mercer – and several thousand loyal Indiana baseball fans.
So all season, it was just players, the coaches and the parents. So that final home game, it was a weird ending. Indiana won 2-0 to end the losing streak and keep their tourney hopes alive. There were lots of hugs and tears afterward between players and family members, because it was basically all over.
"The kids are really thankful for the parents. They've been incredible,'' Mercer said. "Look, it's been a tough week, let's be honest. I haven't slept a lot. But I wake up and I get an email from a parent, just a really genuine, appreciative, encouraging email.
"It really put the wind right back in my sails, and I know if I'm getting that, the kids are getting that from their parents and their loved ones, too. I know when I look up in the stands, I've got my family there – (wife Stephanie and son Grady are always there, too) – and I know how much that's meant to me. We've persevered through it.''
Getting that win on the final day meant a lot last Monday. Seeing his kids happy meant Mercer was happy. And Dad was happy for him.
"It's a big deal to win, just for them, and to listen to them play their music and doing their dances, just being kids and having fun, it was great,'' Mercer said. "And for a couple of days, they get to enjoy it. I felt so happy for them. It made my heart feel good, my soul feel good.''
It was no different on this final weekend, either. After losing a doubleheader at Maryland on Saturday, especially the gut-wrenching first game when they blew a late two-run lead, the message on Sunday was to have fun. And that's exactly what they did. Jordan Fucci, who lost his starting job earlier in the year, hit two home runs, and two freshmen who had been struggling a bit, Kip Fougerousse and Morgan Colopy, had big days. Indiana won, 7-3
And that was it. The regular season is over, and because the Hoosiers finished by losing six of eight games, there is no certainty over a potential NCAA bid now. They'll find out Monday, when the 64-team field is announced (TV: ESPN2, Noon ET)
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For Jeff Mercer Sr., he often sits in beautiful Bart Kaufman Field and can't help but think about how far Indiana baseball has come. When he was an assistant at Indiana in 1988 and 1989, games were played at Sembower Field, which was a dump and an embarrassment to a Big Ten program.
"We were coaches, but we were the grounds crew, too, and we did all sorts of other jobs,'' Mercer Sr. said. "It's like night and day now, in a whole lot of ways. The landscape of college baseball has changed considerably now. It's become a 24/7/365 job now.''
The elder Mercer ran the Indiana Bulls AAU powerhouse program for years, and had coached hundreds of talented kids in his lifetime. He coached Jeff, too, for a while before handing him over ''so he could hear other voices and I could just be a dad.'' The younger Mercer had a solid college career and has been a fast-riser in the college coaching game.
Dad's been there for the journey every step of the way.
Mercer Sr. said what's hated the most about this year is not being able to go to practice because of the COVID-19 protocols. He also had to stay away from Jeff for several weeks at a time whenever there were positive tests within the program. It was even worse earlier in the season when the younger Mercer actually got COVID and missed several games, quarantining in his basement, with his father right next door – and they couldn't even see each other.
Dad goes to all the games, but stays quiet. "Being a fan, that takes something out of you,'' he said. "I just sit there, mostly. I won't yell at umpires or anything. I just soak it all in.
"If I see something, I'll mention it to Jeff, but not very often. A couple of years ago, I saw something in Grant Richardson's swing and made a suggestion, and they worked on that, but I mostly stay out of it and let them do their thing. He's a great coach and he has a great staff. I am very proud of him.''
Monday's selection show will come and go, and there will be good news or bad. Mercer doesn't know what to expect, and he just wants in. He acknowledges the struggles down the stretch, but still feels that Indiana's full body of work is worthy of a bid.
"I don't care where we go,'' Mercer said. "I would take a bid in Anchorage, Alaska, and I would coach in shorts and no shirt. It doesn't matter to me. I just want to go and compete and represent this university in the best way that we can.''
And whether it's good news or bad news, Mercer can walk over to his father's house and have a chat.
Father and son, and baseball.
It doesn't get any better than that.
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Some of Indiana baseball coach Jeff Mercer's family, from left, his parents Jeff Mercer Sr., and Pam, his 2-year-old son Grady, Mercer and his brother Anthony. (Mercer family photo)