HEAD COACH: Rob Randall
Office: (585) 389-2194
Email: rarandal@naz.edu

Rob Randall is getting used to accepting challenges. His first official coaching challenge at Nazareth came the day he was hired in September of 2000, when he became just the second coach in the program's ultra-successful history.

While it wasn't exactly tantamount to replacing Vince Lombardi with the Green Bay Packers or John Wooden at UCLA, succeeding the somewhat legendary Scott Nelson, who built the Nazareth lacrosse program from ground zero to three national titles in 15 seasons, was no small task.

"It was a huge challenge then and it continues to be," said Randall, who accepted the opportunity after Nelson took the head coaching job at Division I Brown University. "It's a great situation to be able to coach where I went to school. There's no place I'd rather be."

With Randall at the helm, the Golden Flyers picked up where they left off under Nelson, winning their first 15 games of the 2002 season to carry the Golden Flyers to their 12th straight NCAA tournament berth. After being eliminated by Middlebury in the national semifinals, Randall was recognized as national coach of the year by 360Lacrosse.com and in the Empire 8 Conference.

Now a whole new challenge awaits Randall as the Golden Flyers approach the 2003 season. Specifically, Randall will look to reshape a Golden Flyer team that finished 9-5 in 2002 and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 12 years.

Randall worked diligently on the recruiting trail and the result is a 2003 roster that includes 13 freshmen, many of whom will have the opportunity to compete right away.
Randall seemed like a natural coaching replacement for Nelson, having played at Nazareth in 1987 and serving on the staff as an assistant coach for three seasons in the 1990s. He was on board in 1992 when the Golden Flyers captured their first national championship.

A native of Rochester, Randall spent the 2000 season as head coach at SUNY Geneseo. His coaching experience also includes a four-year stint as head coach at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn. and three seasons as a Division I assistant coach at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

At Sacred Heart, Randall, like Nelson, started from scratch, building a program that would eventually be ranked fourth nationally in Division II.

He compiled a record of 41-20 in his four seasons there and twice was a finalist for Division II Coach of the Year honors. His 1996 team won the ECAC Division II title.
As a player, Randall was a starting attackman and was named the Golden Flyers' offensive most valuable player in 1987, Nazareth's second season of intercollegiate competition. He had 48 points on 18 goals and a team-best 30 assists.

Randall was a scholastic standout at Irondequoit High School and went on to earn junior college All-America honors at Herkimer County Community College before enrolling at Nazareth.

He earned a degree in sociology from Nazareth in 1988 and a Master of Arts degree in teaching from Sacred Heart.

In addition to coaching lacrosse at Nazareth, Randall oversees game management operations during the fall and winter sports seasons. During the summer he will operate the popular Nazareth College Lacrosse Camp.

Randall resides in Rochester with his wife, Barbara; daughter, Carly; and son, Brett.