St. Bonaventure announced Tuesday that it was hiring former Canisius and Canadian national team coach Randy Mearns to lead its newly founded men's lacrosse program. Mearns, who won the 2014 FIL World Cup gold medal with Canada, spent 19 seasons at Canisius before making the short jump to St. Bonaventure. During his time with the Golden Griffins, Mearns advanced to two NCAA tournaments and had nine players selected in the MLL or NLL drafts. 

Mearns spoke with US Lacrosse Magazine about his vision for the Bonnies lacrosse program, which will officially begin playing at the Division I level in 2018-19, and his excitement for a new challenge.

How do you sum up the opportunity that you’ve been presented with at St. Bonaventure?

I’m very excited about the opportunity. It’s something that you dream about, having the opportunity. It was kind of a side thought, they were just gong to start Division I lacrosse at St. Bonaventure. That’s like news. It’s like Utah coming out. ‘Hey, wow, another Division I program. This is great. Growth of the game, where’s it all going, love it, love it, love it.’ I had the opportunity to listen to a podcast with [Athletic Director] Tim Kenney and kind of understand what they were going to do. You could hear the enthusiasm. You hear it and you just move on. I wrapped up the season and all that good stuff. Then, through some third parties, they were like ‘Hey, we feel like you’d be a good fit. You should be a short list guy. What are your thoughts on that?’ I said I appreciate that. I had to explore it a little bit more and figure out what they were really trying to do.

I talked to my wife first and talked to [Cansius AD] Bill Maher and he was great through this whole process. I said ‘Hey, I just feel like I need to go explore this. I’m just interested to see what this is.’ … I had the opportunity to get up on campus and meet people. I hadn’t been up on campus for 25 years or so. I can’t recall whether it was ’91 or ’92 when I actually played against St. Bonaventure. I rolled up on campus and I was like ‘Wow. Look at this place.’ It’s like a gem in the rolling hills of the Allegheny.’ … All of a sudden, I didn’t sleep for three days. it’s a big life decision. At the end of the day, I was ready for a new opportunity. I said ‘Let’s take a bite out of this apple and let’s create this vision with a lot of energy.'

What are the first steps to building this new program?

We can build a foundation and I’d like to say a new foundation. There’s probably 70, 80, 90, I think they call them the godfathers. Because back in the day St. Bonaventure did have men’s lacrosse. I played against them. I actually got smoked against them. From what I hear, they are super pumped because lacrosse is back at their institution. We can start to reconnect with them, that’s the first order of business.

The second is to hire an assistant coach full-time. The third thing is to get on the road recruiting and start to build this program. I couldn’t be more excited. In some sense, you go through it and you take a leap of faith at times, but sometimes change is good. I’m proud and honored and humbled to be this guy leading a whole new generation of St. Bonaventure lacrosse.

What was the prevailing factor that led you to join St. Bonaventure?

It’s probably a couple things. It was a really good fit from a family standpoint. Just vision. We want to win there. We want to win it all. How do we get there? We know it’s going to take a little bit of time. You see it happening. You watch Marquette do it. I competed against Monmouth and watched Coach Fisher do that. Ryan Polley and Boston U and Richmond. You see this evolution of how to build a program right from the start with a clean slate. Then, in three, four or five years, you’re just nationally recognized. You’re getting to the NCAAs.

It's just a blank canvas and now I can utilize 19 years of ups and downs and all those experiences and memories. I learned a lot of it, in the early years, by trial and error. So now I can sit there and say ‘Where can I go with this?’ Understanding the vision. We’re going to be fully funded and looking to really make an impact in the sport of lacrosse at St. Bonaventure. Tomorrow will be my first official day and then the journey begins.

How is recruiting different from a small, private school like St. Bonaventure, as opposed to a new program at a larger school like Utah?

You have to find the right kids. They have to have high academics. The academics at St. Bonaventure are phenomenal. You have to find the kids that don’t mind and are intrigued about a smaller campus as opposed to a bigger campus. You have to find those right fit kids who are looking to live a dream and have goals. Then I reflect and I can sit there and analyze every high school program in the United States, let alone all the connections in Canada that’s not far away. In my mind, I’m doing rough math, but there’s 42,000 juniors looking for homes. I feel like I got to be able to find 24-30 guys my first year.

With the resources that I have, I’m extremely confident that we’re going to be able to get that done. Is that a metric of Western New York and upstate and down the 90 with Rochester and Syracuse, the Albanys, Southern Ontario, Michigan, Pennsylvanoa, Ohio? At the same time, there’s a lot of good lacrosse everywhere. There’s kids that are legit everywhere. Now it’s a function of not leaving any stone unturned and start to utilize all the contacts and connections and start to try to find those right fit student athletes that have those goals. There’s only 72 Division I lacrosse programs and I feel I can get those guys.

How helpful is it that St. Bonaventure sits in a lacrosse-rich region?

It’s going to help tremendously. There’s so much lacrosse around the area. That small little area  is like an untapped market. There’s not really a lot of lacrosse. They’ve been trying to grow the game there with youth lacrosse. There's lacrosse all around. Theres competition. Obviously, from a Canisius standpoint, a Hobart standpoint, Syracuse — as everyone starts to evolve, you try to find what that right little geographical area is for you, where you can make some inroads.

You can see as the game's continued to evolve and grow, rosters are starting to evolve into areas or have players from areas that maybe you don’t necessarily always go and recruit. Again, we’re going to try to make an impact in the upstate market, absolutely. We’re going to make an impact on the Southern Ontario market. We’re going to try to make an impact in Pennsylvania and Ohio and Michigan. I don’t want to sit there and say ‘Hey, we’re just going to focus on and 90-mile radius.’ But we will focus on that. There’s just too much lacrosse being played and too many good players all over the country and in Canada that if we’re doing the things that we need to do, we can find those guys. That’s the exciting part about this.

Mark Matthews texted me congratulations, which was awesome and I’m happy he did that and appreciated it. He said ‘Hey, maybe I’ll come play for you because I have a year of eligibility.’ I said obviously he didn't and we laughed about it. He was like ‘Good luck with the squad next year,’ I was like ‘I don’t have any players.’ There’s some club lacrosse at St. Bonaventure so I’m excited to coach and see what’s there. There’s just this energy. It’s there. With all the experiences that I’ve had over 19 years and the international experience, having the opportunity to work with guys like John Grant Jr., that whole thing. As I continue to evolve, we have to find those guys, because they had the opportunity to evolve in college, as well. They were dreaming of playing in the NLL and the MLL and internationally. You have to have that goal already in mind, or that marriage won't work.

How would you characterize the attitude toward lacrosse on campus?

Everybody on campus is pumped. It checks a lot of boxes. It’s a sport that in short order, if you fund it correctly, you can get to a level that you’re nationally recognized, and that’s great for St. Bonaventure University. You have the opportunity to recruit and make some inroads maybe in some states and areas that St. Bonaventure, people there aren’t familiar with. From an enrollment standpoint, there’s an advantage to that because more kids are coming to the institution.

Then you’re talking about building an alumni base, which will take a little bit of time. They are excited and ready to go and tackle this vision. Even within all the other sports, what [Athletic Director] Tim Kenney has been able to do there, with a new softball field and upgrading sports in terms of resources. There’s a really nice momentum moving forward. That’s exciting to be a part of. We talk and here’s what they say. They say ‘Listen, if you can just get them to come to campus, they’ll commit. You just have to get them there.’ That’s where I’m just like, ‘yeah, I can build a winner here.’

Are you planning on making a connection with the Native American tribes in the area?

Obviously, we’re going to make some inroads. I have a relationship with some of those guys; Six Nation and Onondaga. Now, it’s a function of nurturing and starting to develop those relationships to a higher bond. At the end of the day, they are phenomenal lacrosse players. Are you kidding me? You look at Zed Williams and Zach Miller. They are countless. Then you have to say ‘What are you looking for?’ There’s an academic component to it. What’s the level that they are trying to play? Just like any other recruit. Now, it’s a function of making inroads, because it’s right in our back yard. it’s right there. That’s an exciting opportunity to try to take advantage. It’s part of the blank slate that we have. How do we build it? What relationships can we lean on immediately? What relationships can we start to develop? How do we introduce St. Bonaventure lacrosse to the world? The first couple years, there will be obstacles, but anything worthwhile doing is not easy.

Where do you want this program to be in 5-10 years?

I want to win a national championship. That’s just simple. That’s my goal. To do that, you have to have those resources. You have to have the right players. It’s hard to do. If I’m not talking about winning a national championship — for me, with the experiences from an international standpoint and playing experience with winning up in Canada — all of that stuff is my goal. That’s the goal we should be reaching for. We have to find a conference. Is it hard to win a conference championship? Hell yeah. It absolutely is. There’s so much great lacrosse being played at the Division I level.

What conference do you see this program joining?

We haven’t had too many of those conversations at this point. We know it would be strategically important to be within a conference because of the AQ. The lacrosse landscape continues to change. Off the get-go, is the application from a MAAC standpoint? Is it an NEC? Do those conferences need any more members? Is it America East? I don’t know what that is at this point. I know this: There are five programs out there that are independent. What’s that metric look like? There are four A-10 schools. What happens in five years? Are there more A-10 schools?

I feel the growth of the game, and from a revenue standpoint to institutions, the landscape will continue to change. When Utah announced that they were adding it, that’s huge for lacrosse, just like St. Bonaventure adding. Any time there’s another program being added, it changes the landscape. I equate it to my old PLPA days. It’s like ‘Hey for those students out there wanting to play Division I lacrosse, another 40-45 jobs just opened up.’ That will work itself out. We’re hopeful that we can get into a conference.