Randy Mearns

Education

Canisius College.

Career

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 Mearns played for the Saint Catharines Athletics for 5 years. Mearns ranked 36th all time in Canadian Junior A lacrosse assists (regular season and playoffs combined) with 348.

Mearns was an All-American National Collegiate Athletic Association lacrosse player at Canisius College from 1990 to 1992 who is currently 20th all-time in Division I career points-per-game (Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company), having scored 95 goals and 95 assists for 190 career points in 39 games.

He is also the all-time leading scorer at Canisius. 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. 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.

Achievements

• 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. 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). Mearns played professionally for the NLL"s Buffalo Bandits and Rochester Knighthawks, acting as captain of the 1997 NLL champion Knighthawk team He is currently the head coach of the Canisius men"s lacrosse team and also was an assistant coach on the Canadian national team that won the gold medal at the 2006 World Lacrosse Championship. Mearns has won 58 games in his 10 years of coaching at Canisius, and led the Griffins to their first ever National Collegiate Athletic Association 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 was on the Canadian national team that won the gold medal at the 2014 World Lacrosse Championship.