Mearns faces off against familiar faces

Mentor and former student of the game go head-to-head

As the lights flicked on at the Tom and Michelle Marra Athletics Complex Tuesday night, Randy Mearns, head coach of the St. Bonaventure men’s lacrosse team, stood on the opposite sideline of Canisius. The place he had spent the entirety of his professional career until now.
Mearns, who coached at Canisius for 19 seasons, took the St. Bonaventure job in the summer of 2017.
Mearns not only coached at Canisius for nearly two decades, but he played there as well. He finished his career as a two-time All-American player, scoring 95 goals, 95 assists and 190 total points, which puts him a No. 2 overall in program history.
In his coaching career, success continued for the Canisius hall of famer. He won a handful of conference titles, brought his team to two NCAA Tournaments (2008 and 2012), developed multiple players to play professionally and more.
While Mearns admitted that standing on the opposite sideline for the first time in his life would be surreal for him, he said leaving Canisius was amicable. No bad blood, no grudges. Mearns just wanted to take on a new challenge.
“Some of the guys on the team [Canisius] are guys that I recruited,” said Mearns ahead of Tuesday night’s matchup. “It’s like my guys versus my guys in a way. I still have great relationships at Canisius. When I decided to leave, it was an amicable split. I wanted a new challenge.”
On the other sideline stood Mark Miyashita, second-year head coach of Canisius’ men’s lacrosse program.
From 2000 to 2003, Miyashita played under Mearns. As a player, Miyashita earned 74 assists, 71 goals and 145 career-points, seventh all-time in program history.
The pair of Canisius hall of famers coached together, too. This past summer at the FIL World Championship, Miyashita worked on Mearns’ team Canada staff as an assistant.
Miyashita also expressed that working against Mearns had a surreal feeling, but he had nothing but praise for a guy that played a big role in his rise as a coach.
“I’m happy for the opportunity that he has at Bonaventure and happy with the opportunity I have at Canisius. At the end of the day, we’ll shake hands, smile and it’ll all be normal,” said Miyashita.
Mearns spoke highly of his once ‘student of the game,’ admiring his tactfulness as a coach. Mearns spoke with excitement while talking about Miyashita and his instant success at his former job.
“He’s done a great job,” said Mearns. “When he took over, he had a great cast of seniors. He had great success. He won a conference championship, and he took them back to the NCAA Tournament.”
Mearns added, “He’s a phenomenal coach and a good recruiter. He knows the game well, and has a great system.”
Miyashita, on the other hand, said that Mearns’ relationship-building skills are something that he admires about his old mentor. Miyashita said that it’s something that has helped him as a leader and in life.
“Randy has gone from being not only my coach, but a great friend,” said Miyashita. “He’s someone I can lean on in good times and in bad times. Not only in Xs and Os, but in life.”
Miyashita added, “With him, it’s that personal touch. He can build relationships with people, and I think that’s what touches me so much. He’s done it all as a player. He’s done great things as a coach. He’s got his way of doing things, and there’s a lot of things I have picked up from him.”
With model lacrosse programs such as Syracuse, Hobart, Colgate and Cornell to the east, both coaches hope that Bonaventure and Canisius can develop a big-time lacrosse rivalry in western New York.
And although Canisius took round one of this growing western New York lacrosse rivalry, both coaches are looking forward to what is to come of this.
Mearns spoke to how great this game can potentially be for the ever-expanding sport of lacrosse.
“I think this game is great for lacrosse,” said Mearns, speaking with passion. “From a western New York standpoint, this will end up being a rivalry. Kind of like how it is in basketball. Other than Canisius, we’re the only other Division I program in the area. This will be good.”
Miyashita, similar to Mearns, spoke to how exciting this is for the conference and the sport.
“I think this is great for the conference,” said Miyashita. “We’re playing for something. It means something in terms of conference championships. So it carries even more weight. It’s not just an out-of-conference rival, this is in conference.”
Miyashita said, “With the connections between St. Bonaventure and Canisius in other sports, there’s always been that rivalry. We’ll see where this goes.”
While a once mentor and once student crossed paths on Tuesday, Miyashita and Mearns have a friendship that will last a lifetime, no matter how heated this rivalry may get.
“We’ll go out and talk about this some day over a pint,” said Mearns.