Mercer Hires Goucher's Hannan as Head Coach/Halftime-Orange-Slicer

Today was kind of a crazy day. First, there was the release of the cockamamie NCAA survey that was, presumably, intended to guide the rules committee on its proposals for this rulemaking cycle. Then, the Ivy League let forth Rob Pannell to commit calculated attacks of goalie violence throughout college lacrosse in 2013.

I was pretty busy, you guys, writing little stories on my Internet computing machine about college lacrosse and stuff. As a reward for first-rate blogging (which only means that I didn't watch corgi vidoes instead of making my fingers type things), I was ready to call it a day and make myself some strawberry soup, read a book on the porch, and count the hundreds of pennies I earned due to the site's pageviews on the day. (I'm only 124,432 days away from buying a brand new portable sundial as a result of all of my blogging savings.) And then Mercer up and ruined everything by hiring Goucher College's Kyle Hannan.

Selfish jerks.

Anyway, despite Mercer not publishing a release officially announcing the hire, Hannan -- who had 12 seasons of head coaching experience at Goucher before heading south to Macon -- is set to become Mercer's second head coach after Jason Childs resigned his post last month to pursue a position at Shorter. Here's what Hannan told Inside Lacrosse about his decision to blow a whistle in Georgia for the foreseeable future:

"It's exciting," Hannan said of the opportunity on Thursday. "I didn't initially know much about Mercer, but my gosh they're doing some impressive things. The main thing that was very, very evident the minute I stepped on campus is that President Underwood and Athletic Director Jim Cole are fully supportive of men's lacrosse on campus."

Hannan cited a new multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art football and lacrosse facility as part of the commitment that the Macon, Ga., university is demonstrating to DI men's lacrosse. Mercer is the first and only Division I men's lacrosse program in Georgia.

Wait. Mercer has a new multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art lacrosse facility? Oh, yeah; they do. (You should totally read this website every single day at every single moment of the day so that you don't miss out on these incredibly important things, college boy.)

Hannan, who has amassed an 179-122 overall record in his 19 seasons as a head coach at Goucher, Colorado College, and Virginia Wesleyan, is stepping into a difficult situation but one that appears to have upside. While only existing at the Division I level for two seasons and compiling an uninspiring 2-25 record in that time, the Bears' lacrosse program has a deadly bullet in the chamber -- its facility -- and the allure of a geographic location that doesn't involve snow squalls and road salt; this may draw some talent from the northeast and also serve as a flash point for some of the emerging talent in the south.

This isn't going to be an easy build for Hannan, but he (unlike some of his peers) at least has tangible support from his athletic administration. The rest is on his shoulders to make the magic happen.