Randy Mearns

Randy Mearns was named the first Division I men's lacrosse head coach in St. Bonaventure University history on June 20, 2017. A decorated coach and player, Mearns brings a lengthy resume to St. Bonaventure.

Mearns directed the men's lacrosse program at Canisius College for the past 19 seasons before accepting the job at SBU. During his time in Buffalo, Mearns led his program to a pair of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2012. Under his leadership, 41 players have received all-conference accolades and a number have gone on to play professionally – six Canisius players have been selected in the first round of the National Lacrosse League Draft and three earned selections in the Major League Lacrosse Draft.

"Everyone who knows Randy talks about his energy and his vision to move things forward," Kenney said. "He's coming to St. Bonaventure to create something special and with Randy at the helm the sky is the limit for this program. His reputation in the lacrosse world is huge. We're going to build this program from the ground up and into a championship contender."

This past season, Mearns registered his 100th career victory with the Griffs and guided the MAAC Co-Offensive Player of the Year in Connor Kearnan while six of his players were honored as part of the annual MAAC awards. Mearns' players also enjoyed success in the classroom as 19 student-athletes were named to the MAAC All-Academic Team, tying for most in the league. Mearns enjoyed another winning MAAC season as well, giving him 11 years where his Canisius teams have been .500 or better in conference.

"As the process went, this became more and more of a great fit," Mearns said. "The opportunity at St. Bonaventure really intrigued me; when I came on campus I was immediately inspired. This is a gem of an institution. I think we can really build something special here.

"The academics at St. Bonaventure are phenomenal, the people are phenomenal and the support for the program is there," Mearns continued. "Tim Kenney is a visionary who is excited about this journey and I want to thank Tim and (St. Bonaventure University President) Dr. DePerro for this opportunity. I'm tremendously excited to be part of it."

Mearns also has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success on the international level.

In 2014, he added a gold medal to his head coaching resume by leading the Canadian National Team to the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championship. That year saw 10 of his Canisius players participate in the world championship including five on his winning Canadian team. Prior to leading the Canadian National Team to the 2014 World Championship, he was an assistant coach in both 2006 and 2010, with the 2006 team also winning the gold medal.

In his nine-year playing career in the National Lacrosse League (NLL), he was a part of two championship teams and named NLL All-Star Game MVP in 1999. He has also experienced success at the National level as team captain of four Mann Cup championship teams, the Brampton Excelsiors ('93) and the Six Nations Chiefs ('94-'96). Further, he served as team captain for the Rochester Knighthawks (NLL) for six years, and Team Canada at the 1998 World Championship.

While in Rochester, he helped the Knighthawks to four championship appearances ('96, '97, '99 and 2000) including a league title in 1997. He bookended his NLL playing career with a pair of seasons with the Buffalo Bandits including the best offensive output of his career with 14 goals and 24 assists during the 2002 season. In all, he tallied 244 career points in nine NLL seasons with Buffalo and Rochester.

He also played in the Canadian Junior A and Canadian Senior A Lacrosse Leagues with a 10-year stint beginning in 1990. During that time, he appeared in eight national championships including five as team captain, winning six overall championships.

Mearns was a part of the Canadian Junior National Team which won the silver medal in the 1988 World Championships before being a part of the first recruiting class at Canisius. He finished his college career ranking second in Griffs career scoring with 190 points and still holds the school's single season records for points (94) and assists (49). Mearns is also the Griffs' all-time leader in assists (95). He was drafted by the Buffalo Bandits in 1992 to begin his professional playing career and was a member of the Bandits Major Indoor Lacrosse League World Championship team in 1993.

After serving as a tri-captain for the 1998 World Championship Canadian silver medal winners, he accepted the head coaching job at Canisius and has guided his alma mater for the last 19 years.

He is a member of the Canadian Lacrosse, Ontario Lacrosse, Rochester Knighthawks and Canisius College halls of fame and also owns bachelor's and master's degrees from Canisius.