Mercadante Named A-Sun Coach of the Year

North Florida’s Joe Mercadante has been named the Atlantic Sun Conference Baseball Coach of the Year.

Mercadante led North Florida to the 2026 Graphite Division title, a 31-22 overall record and a conference-best 22-8 mark in ASUN play in just his third season at the helm of the program. Mercadante guided North Florida to its most ASUN wins since its Division I inception in 2006 and most single-season wins since 2019. He notched North Florida's best win percentage (.733) in conference play since 2015 (.762).

North Florida won 12 of 14 weekend series, all eight home series and nine out of 10 ASUN Conference series. He led North Florida to its most ASUN series wins since the program's Division I start in 2006.

Early in his coaching career, Mercadante coached in the VBL with the Covington Lumberjacks.