Mercer wastes no time in replacing Jacobs, brings back defensive coordinator Joel Taylor
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Toledo worked fast to get a new head coach.
Mercer worked faster.
The school announced late Thursday morning that Joel Taylor had been hired to replace Mike Jacobs, who resigned Wednesday to take the Toledo head coaching job.
Here is the school’s statement: link.
The expediency with which Mercer was able to act is abnormal. Toledo replacing Jason Candle in less than a week was a very unusual time frame.
But the choice isn’t a shock, as noted in Wednesday’s story in The Sports Report on Jacobs’ departure:
“Another name likely to surface is West Georgia head coach Joel Taylor, who came to Mercer with (correction: Cronic) but took over the Wolves’ program two years ago this month and is 12-10, but is off an 8-3 season – including a 34-3 win over Samford and 35-31 win over East Tennessee State - in the program’s second year in Division I.
“Both Jacobs and Taylor are finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award that goes to the top FCS coach.