Baseball player and Cross Country runner (1971-73)
Baseball and Cross Country Coach / Administrator (1977-2015)
- Guided Chiefs’ baseball to 895 wins over 37 seasons
- Three top-4 NJCAA World Series finishes including National Runner-up in 1996
- IBCA (2002), Region IV (2005) and ISCC (2015) Hall of Fame inductee
- 20 nationally-ranked teams and program record 39 wins in 2014
It's said that 'a coach potentially impacts more lives in a year than the average person does in a lifetime.' In that context, it would take a lot of lifetimes to equal what Dave Randall has achieved. For 38 years, including 37 as head baseball coach, "Mr. Waubonsee" had a profound effect on the lives of countless student-athletes, both as a coach and Athletic Manager, and he guided the Chiefs to a lot of victories along the way too. Known for his integrity, sportsmanship, teaching the fundamentals of the game, and his dedication to the college, Randall’s influence spanned parts of five decades.
A graduate of Kaneland High School in 1971, Randall was the Chiefs’ starting centerfielder and ran Cross Country the next two years before transferring to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWLC). He earned a degree in Physical Education from UWLC and returned to Sugar Grove in 1977 to serve as Bill Prince’s assistant baseball coach before taking over the program the following year. Over the next 37 years he led the Chiefs’ to 895 wins, at the time, the second most all-time among NJCAA Division III baseball coaches. Randall also coached cross country in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, and is even 1-0 as a soccer coach, guiding Waubonsee’s women’s soccer team to one of the biggest upsets in Region IV history in 2002 knocking off seventh-ranked and undefeated (18-0) Harper College.
As a baseball coach his teams won six Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISCC) titles, despite being the only non-scholarship program in the conference at the time. Randall was named the ISCC Coach of the Year seven times, while also leading the Chiefs to three Sectional titles, five Region championships, seven Region runner-up finishes, and four NJCAA Division III World Series appearances, finishing second nationally in 1996, third in 2013 and fourth in 2014. Twenty of his teams were ranked in the top-15 nationally, 107 of his players earned All-ISCC First Team honors, 98 were chosen All-Region First Team, 19 achieved NJCAA All-American status, and a dozen played professionally. In addition, 80 played in the Region IV All-Star game, nearly 50 went on to coach at either the prep or collegiate level, and close to 200 continued on to play after Waubonsee.
Randall earned a Master’s Degree from Northern Illinois University and was Waubonsee’s Athletic Manager from 1984 until 2015. Over the years he additionally served as the ISCC Baseball Chairman, Region IV Code of Conduct Chairman, the Region IV Baseball Chairman, was an NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association Committee member, and was Director of the Region IV All-Star game for over 20 years. Randall was inducted into the Illinois Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2002, the Region IV Hall of Fame in 2005, and the ISCC Hall of Fame in 2015. He was selected the Chicago Hit and Pitch Club Junior College Coach of the Year in 1996 and was named Waubonsee Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 1984.
Randall and his wife Kathy reside in north suburban Grayslake. They have two daughters, Jessica and Rebecca, both of whom played on ISCC champion softball teams at Waubonsee, and one grandson Cal. Randall is currently the Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Kenosha (WI).
