Randy Mearns

Randy Mearns (born May 28, 1969) is a Canadian former lacrosse player who was most recently the interim head coach of the Rochester Knighthawks of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). 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.

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.

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. 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 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.

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. 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 College 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. 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. On April 28, 2025, the University announced that Mearns would not return as head coach.

National Lacrosse League On March 10, 2026, Mearns was named the interim head coach of the Rochester Knighthawks. Mearns took over from Mike Hasen, who was fired by Rochester after a 5–6 start to the 2026 season. Mearns led the Knighthawks to a 1–6 finish as the interim head coach.

Head coaching record College

NLL head coaching statistics TeamSeasonRegular SeasonPlayoffsPlayoff resultGCWLW%GCWLW%Rochester Knighthawks2026*716.143––––Did not qualifyTotals:1716.143––––

* - Interim head coach

Statistics

NLL Regular Season Playoffs Season Team GP G A Pts LB PIM GP G A Pts LB PIM 1993 Buffalo 8 3 3 6 27 4 2 0 0 0 8 2 1995 Rochester 8 2 9 11 29 8 2 0 5 5 10 2 1996 Rochester 10 10 24 34 63 8 1 2 3 5 8 0 1997 Rochester 10 9 17 26 55 18 2 0 6 6 16 0 1998 Rochester 11 7 20 27 44 6 1 0 2 2 2 2 1999 Rochester 10 9 18 27 50 4 2 0 6 6 18 0 2000 Rochester 11 6 20 26 89 6 2 2 2 4 19 2 2001 Rochester 12 2 17 19 75 12 1 0 2 2 3 0 2002 Buffalo 15 14 24 38 66 4 -- -- -- -- -- -- NLL totals 95 62 152 214 498 70 13 4 26 30 84 8

OLA Regular Season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM1985Niagara WarriorsOLA Jr B21120----------1985St. Catharines AthleticsOLA Jr A42240----------1986St. Catharines AthleticsOLA Jr A2015254081035821987St. Catharines AthleticsOLA Jr A25337010323910203081988St. Catharines AthleticsOLA Jr A15283361667132021989St. Catharines AthleticsOLA Jr A2431619217117182521990St. Catharines AthleticsOLA Jr A18396210111916395581991Brampton ExcelsiorsMSL1314142826--66--1992Brampton ExcelsiorsMSL1412122421214112561993Brampton ExcelsiorsMSL152231531097101761994Six Nations ChiefsMSL20153348431872431311995Six Nations ChiefsMSL18153348291442024191996Six Nations ChiefsMSL181222343361910--1997Niagara Falls GamblersMSL151229411216161531241998BuffaloMSL1071118495131841999Brampton ExcelsiorsMSL2134--19926352Junior A Totals1061482534016545439513822Senior A Totals1251101882981351096313419792

Canisius College Season GP G A Pts PPG 1990 16 45 49 94 5.58 1991 13 30 18 48 3.69 1992 10 20 28 48 4.80 Totals 39 95 95 190 4.87 (a)

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

Randy Mearns

Bron en licentie