Randy Mearns (born May 28, 1969) is a former

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

player who was most recently the head coach of the

St. Bonaventure Bonnies The St. Bonaventure Bonnies (formerly the St. Bonaventure Brown Indians from 1927 to 1992) are the varsity intercollegiate athletic programs of St. Bonaventure University, based in St. Bonaventure, New York between the two towns of Allegany an ...

men’s lacrosse team. After a 9-year career in the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

, 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. Mearns, along with the entire 2006 Canadian National lacrosse team, was inducted into the

Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame The Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame is a Canadian lacrosse hall of fame, located in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. The Hall was chartered in 1965 by the Canadian Lacrosse Association, and inducted its first class of hall of famers in ...

, following a lengthy career in the

Ontario Lacrosse Association The Ontario Lacrosse Association (Ontario Lacrosse) is a not-for-profit sport organization and a member association of the Canadian Lacrosse Association, the national governing body for lacrosse in Canada. The Ontario Lacrosse Association is the ...

Major Series Lacrosse Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) is a Senior A box lacrosse league with 7 teams based in Ontario, Canada, sanctioned by the Ontario Lacrosse Association. The league championship team each year goes on to play against the champions of the Western Lac ...

and

Western Lacrosse Association The Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) is a men's Senior A box lacrosse league with seven teams in British Columbia. The playoff championship team each season advances to the play against the Major Series Lacrosse champions for the Mann Cup. The ...

Canadian professional box lacrosse leagues as a player.

Canadian Box Career

Mearns played for the St. Catharines Athletics for 5 years. In 1990, Mearns led the team to their first

Minto Cup The Minto Cup is awarded annually to the champion junior men's box lacrosse team of Canada. The 2023 competition is in Edmonton, Alberta, from August 20–27. It was donated in 1901 by the Governor General of Canada, Governor General, Gilbert Jo ...

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. Mearns ranked 36th all time in Canadian Junior A lacrosse assists (regular season and playoffs combined) with 348. With the Brampton Excelsiors, Mearns won

Mann Cup The Mann Cup is the trophy awarded to the senior men's box lacrosse champions of Canada. The championship is a best-of-seven, East vs West series played between the league champions of Major Series Lacrosse, the East, and Western Lacrosse Associat ...

championships in 1992 and 1993, and also won three with the Six Nation Chiefs (’94, ‘95’ ’96).

College career

Mearns was an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

player at

Canisius College Canisius University is a private Jesuit university in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 ma ...

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.

Professional career

Mearns played professionally for the NLL's

Buffalo Bandits The Buffalo Bandits are an American professional box lacrosse team based in Buffalo, New York, that competes in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The team plays its home games at KeyBank Center. The Bandits played in the Major Indoor Lacrosse L ...

and

Rochester Knighthawks The Rochester Knighthawks (also known as the K-Hawks) are an American professional box lacrosse team based in Rochester, New York, that competes in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The team plays its home games at Blue Cross Arena. The Knighth ...

, acting as captain of the 1997 NLL champion Knighthawk team. Rochester also played in the 1995, 1999 and 2000 finals. 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 Canada men's national lacrosse team, Canada won its second gold medal at the 2006 World Lacrosse Championship, held in London, Ontario, from 14 to 22 July. The Canadians defeated the United States men's national lacrosse team, United States in th ...

. 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. 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 The 2014 World Lacrosse Championship was held July 10–19 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park outside Denver, Colorado. 38 nations played 142 games in this international men's lacrosse championship tournament organized by the Federation of Internat ...

. Mearns was named the initial head coach for the St. Bonaventure men's Division I lacrosse team, in June 2017. On April 28, 2025, the University announced that Mearns would not return as head coach.

Head coaching record

Statistics

NLL

OLA

Canisius College

: ^''(a)'' 20th in NCAA career points-per-game

References

External links

Canisius U Web SiteTeam Canada Men's LacrosseNLL Career Stats pageLaxpower.com article on Canadian Hall of Fame Induction
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mearns, Randy 1969 births Living people Buffalo Bandits players Canadian lacrosse players Canisius Golden Griffins men's lacrosse coaches Canisius Golden Griffins men's lacrosse players Rochester Knighthawks players Lacrosse players from St. Catharines National Lacrosse League announcers