Randy Mearns

Randy Mearns (born May 28, 1969) is a former lacrosse player and the current head coach of the St. Bonaventure Bonnies men’s lacrosse team. After a 9-year career in the National Lacrosse League, Mearns became the head coach of the Canisius Golden Griffins men’s lacrosse team, where he would coach for 19 seasons before leaving in 2017 to coach for the newly-created lacrosse program at St. Bonaventure.

Randy Mearns
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamSt. Bonaventure
ConferenceMAAC
Record16–31 (.340)
Biographical details
Born (1969-05-28) May 28, 1969
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Alma materCanisius College
Playing career
1990-1992Canisius College
1993Buffalo Bandits
1995-2001Rochester Knighthawks
2002Buffalo Bandits
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1997-1998Canisius Golden Griffins (asst.)
1998-2017Canisius Golden Griffins
2017–presentSt. Bonaventure Bonnies
Head coaching record
Overall116–188 (.382)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
As coach:

2x MAAC Tournament (2008, 2012)
3x MAAC Regular Season (2006, 2008, 2022)
2x World Lacrosse Championship (2006, 2014)

As player:

1x NLL Champions (1997)
5x Mann Cup (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996)
1x Minto Cup (1990)
Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame

Mearns, along with the entire 2006 Canadian National lacrosse team, was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame, following a lengthy career in the Ontario Lacrosse Association, Major Series Lacrosse and Western Lacrosse Association Canadian professional box lacrosse leagues as a player.[1]

Canadian Box Career

Mearns played for the St. Catharines Athletics for 5 years. In 1990, Mearns led the team to their first Minto Cup championship since 1950, and was awarded the "Jim McConaghy Memorial Cup" for Minto Cup M.V.P. He was later given the "B.W. Evans Award" for Top Graduating Player.[2] Mearns ranked 36th all time in Canadian Junior A lacrosse assists (regular season and playoffs combined) with 348.[3]

With the Brampton Excelsiors, Mearns won Mann Cup championships in 1992 and 1993, and also won three with the Six Nation Chiefs (’94, ‘95’ ’96).

College career

Mearns was an All-American NCAA lacrosse player at Canisius College from 1990 to 1992 who is currently 20th all-time in Division I career points-per-game (PPG), having scored 95 goals and 95 assists for 190 career points in 39 games. He is also the all-time leading scorer at Canisius.[4]

Professional career

Mearns played professionally for the NLL's Buffalo Bandits and Rochester Knighthawks, acting as captain of the 1997 NLL champion Knighthawk team. Rochester also played in the 1995, 1999 and 2000 finals.[5] Since his retirement from professional lacrosse, he has served as the color commentator for the Bandits' radio broadcasts alongside play-by-play man John Gurtler.

Coaching career

He coached the Canisius men's lacrosse team through 2017, and also was an assistant coach on the Canadian national team that won the gold medal at the 2006 World Lacrosse Championship. Mearns won 94 games in his 18 years of coaching at Canisius, and led the Griffins to their first ever NCAA tournament bid in 2008 where they lost to Syracuse in the first round, and second in 2012 where they lost against Loyola in the first round.[6] Mearns has provided development for his players towards the professional ranks, including Mark Miyashita who graduated from Canisius in 2003 and was the first overall selection in the 2003 National Lacrosse League draft. In a preseason coaches poll, Canisius was picked to repeat in 2009 as MAAC champions. However after a rough start to the season where they lost six straight including 3 one-goal losses, the Griffs ended 2009 on a 4 and 3 run.

Mearns was Head Coach of the Canadian national team that won the gold medal at the 2014 World Lacrosse Championship.

Mearns was named the initial head coach for the St. Bonaventure men's Division I lacrosse team, in June 2017.

Head coaching record
Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Canisius Golden Griffins (MAAC) (1999–2017)
1999 Canisius 4–83–5
2000 Canisius 3–103–6
2001 Canisius 7–64–5
2002 Canisius 5–83–4
2003 Canisius 5–95–3
2004 Canisius 6–76–2
2005 Canisius 5–74–4
2006 Canisius 7–86–21st
2007 Canisius 6–85–3
2008 Canisius 10–67–11stNCAA First Round
2009 Canisius 4–93–54th
2010 Canisius 6–75–34th
2011 Canisius 3–93–32nd
2012 Canisius 6–83–34thNCAA First Round
2013 Canisius 3–102–44th
2014 Canisius 7–83–32nd
2015 Canisius 3–122–46th
2016 Canisius 4–83–34th
2017 Canisius 6–94–23rd
Canisius: 100–157(.389)74–65(.532)
St. Bonaventure Bonnies (MAAC) (2019–present)
2019 Bonaventure 0–130–78th
2020 Bonaventure 0–60–0
2021 Bonaventure 5–52–47th
2022 Bonaventure 11–45–11st
2023 Bonaventure 1–30–0
Bonaventure: 17–31 (.354)7–12 (.368)
Total:117–188 (.384)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Statistics

NLL
    Regular Season   Playoffs
SeasonTeamGPGAPtsLBPIMGPGAPtsLBPIM
1993Buffalo8336274200082
1995Rochester829112982055102
1996Rochester10102434638123580
1997Rochester109172655182066160
1998Rochester1172027446102222
1999Rochester10918275042066180
2000Rochester11620268962224192
2001Rochester12217197512102230
2002Buffalo15142438664------------
NLL Totals9562152214498701342630848

__________________________________________________________________________

OLA
    Regular Season   Playoffs
SeasonTeamLeagueGPGAPtsPIMGPGAPtsPIM
1985Niagara WarriorsOLA Jr B21120----------
1985St. Catharines AthleticsOLA Jr A42240----------
1986St. Catharines AthleticsOLA Jr A201525408103582
1987St. Catharines AthleticsOLA Jr A2533701032391020308
1988St. Catharines AthleticsOLA Jr A1528336166713202
1989St. Catharines AthleticsOLA Jr A243161921711718252
1990St. Catharines AthleticsOLA Jr A1839621011191639558
1991Brampton ExcelsiorsMSL1314142826--66--
1992Brampton ExcelsiorsMSL141212242121411256
1993Brampton ExcelsiorsMSL15223153109710176
1994Six Nations ChiefsMSL2015334843187243131
1995Six Nations ChiefsMSL1815334829144202419
1996Six Nations ChiefsMSL181222343361910--
1997Niagara Falls GamblersMSL15122941121616153124
1998BuffaloMSL107111849513184
1999Brampton ExcelsiorsMSL2134--19926352
Junior A Totals1061482534016545439513822
Senior A Totals1251101882981351096313419792

__________________________________________________________________________

Canisius College
     
SeasonGPGAPtsPPG
1990164549945.58
1991133018483.69
1992102028484.80
Totals3995951904.87 (a)
(a) 20th in NCAA career points-per-game

See also

References
  1. "Power's bible of Lacrosse Stats". Power's Bible of Lacrosse. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13.
  2. "O.L.A. Junior A Trophy Winners". wampsbibleoflacrosse.com.
  3. "Top 100 Career Leaders For Goals, Assists, And Points In Canadian Junior A Lacrosse". wampsbibleoflacrosse.com.
  4. "Canisius Griffins Coach Bio". Canisius University.
  5. "Rochester Knighthawks History". Rochester Knighthawks website.
  6. "Canisius Defeats VMI to Claim Its First MAAC Title". LaxPower.com. May 4, 2008.
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