Chad Surman faced a little bit of the unknown for three months. An assistant at Mercer for five years, he was elevated to the interim head coaching job when Kyle Hannan left in August to become the president of Team 24/7 Lacrosse in North Carolina.

One thing was always clear: He had the chance to lead one of last season’s breakout programs, one potentially on the cusp of yet another step. Now, he and the Bears share a little more certainty since Surman was named the program’s permanent head coach last week.

“Being off the beaten path, being in a nontraditional area, if you will, down here in Georgia, we’re kind of one of the best-kept secrets in lacrosse,” Surman said. “It provides a lot of things that most lacrosse players are looking for. Our hardest challenge sometimes is getting guys down here to see it, but once they do, it really quickly becomes one of the schools at the top of their list.”

There is appeal on several levels. Mercer was part of Division I’s southern expansion over the last decade or so, and the gleaming 10,200-seat Five Star Stadium it shares with the Bears’ football and women’s lacrosse programs opened in 2013. The Macon, Ga., campus is located about 75 miles southeast of Atlanta, and the prospect of 70-degree days at times when it’s much chillier further north doesn’t hurt.

Surman, who was part of a Division II national finalist at Le Moyne, won a junior college national title at Onondaga Community College and later added two Division III titles at Salisbury, brings an impressive pedigree to the job. He also helped Mercer secure its first winning season last year, a 6-1 run halted only when the COVID-19 pandemic brought the spring to an abrupt halt.

The Bears, whose only loss came against North Carolina, tied for eighth nationally in scoring at 16.43 goals per game. Sean Goldsmith led the country in the abbreviated season with 34 goals as a sophomore.

“We had a lot of the same guys in our offense coming back, and I think that really helped,” Goldsmith said. “We just built on what we did and where we were trying to get to my freshman year that we just weren’t able to [then]. That next fall, we really just dug in and started to work on a new offense and just moving the ball faster and taking better shots, smarter shots and working the ball deeper into the shot clock. It was really good for us.”

The attackman’s background fits perfectly into Mercer’s recruiting philosophy. The program is happy to look for players nationally, but its goal is to collect as many of the best players in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida as it can as lacrosse continues to blossom in those areas.

Goldsmith’s father Mark is a Long Island native who came to Greensboro, N.C., in 1989 as the head coach at Guilford College and later helped develop the sport at the high school level in the Triad area in the middle of the state. He also passed it along to his children; Sean, for one, received a stick for his first birthday.

But he was not part of a heated recruiting battle. Hannan contacted Goldsmith the first day he was allowed to do so, and Goldsmith’s trip to Mercer was the only serious visit he took.

“I never reached out to many people and I didn’t really get my name out there, which is something I kind of regret, but it also brought me to Mercer,” Goldsmith said. “I love it here, and I wouldn’t change it all.”

The Bears wouldn’t, either. Goldsmith had 24 goals and 10 assists as a freshman, leading Mercer in goals and points during a frustrating 1-13 season that included four one-goal losses and two more by three goals.

Last spring, the 6’4” Goldsmith had a hat trick in every game, including seven-goal outbursts in routs of Wagner and St. Bonaventure, as the Bears won their most games since going 7-7 in 2014.

“He just loves the game,” Surman said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a Tuesday ground ball drill toward the end of practice or it’s a big conference game on a Saturday and the game is tied. The moment doesn’t really matter to him. He’s just going to compete and play hard. He works tirelessly on his craft, and he’s always out there getting extra reps and trying to add new moves to his repertoire.”

It’s hardly a one-man band. Ashton Wood, a St. Augustine, Fla., product, was third nationally in faceoff percentage (.695). Attackman Will McCarthy (12 goals, 10 assists) and midfielder Michael Quinn (12 goals, 12 assists) were key offensive cogs. The 6’6” Carl Klepper had 11 goals on 15 shots in the Bears’ final five games.

And the best part for Mercer? All 15 players who scored multiple goals are back for 2021.

Goldsmith attributed much of last year’s success to embracing a rugged “dive mentality” and refusing to give up on any play. The continuity of promoting Surman should help, and he was pleased to see players fired up and produce a strong scrimmage after they were informed the administration removed his interim tag.

There wasn’t much need for wholesale changes, though he did introduce the Mercer University Lacrosse League (MULL) during fall ball to add some competition. Goalies drafted rosters as the Bears spent part of practices playing box lacrosse as a way to further enhance skill development.

If its offense becomes even more prolific, Mercer won’t be one of the sport’s secrets for much longer.

“With a lot of guys coming back, some fifth-year guys, expectations are high,” Surman said. “They want to pick up where we left off and they want to continue moving this program forward and becoming a top-20 team nationally and being in that mix.”