Big Sky Conference’s Winningest Coach Remembers BVU Roots
Former Beaver basketball, baseball player honored after earning 300th coaching victory at NCAA Division I Weber State University in Utah.
The winningest coach in Big Sky Conference men’s basketball is a 1982 Buena Vista University graduate remembered more for baseball at his alma mater.
“In basketball, I was basically a walk-on,” says Randy Rahe, who earned his 300th victory as men’s basketball coach at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, earlier this season. “I was definitely a role player.”
Rahe, a native of Bancroft, was a four-year starter on the baseball diamond for BVU Hall-of-Famer, the late Coach Jay Beekmann. Rahe played second base for the Beavers, who earned league titles and defeated the defending national champs, the University of California at Stanislaus, in the 1980 regional tournament.
“I couldn’t wait to get to baseball practice when I was a student at Buena Vista,” Rahe says. “I loved Coach Beekmann to death. He was a great person, a great mentor, a man who taught me so much about life.”
“[At Weber State] we also coach everyone the same way. I make sure our walk-ons are given the same amount of attention as our top eight players. It is very important for our team that everyone feels the same way as the starters. I learned that from Coach Beekmann.”
Randy Rahe
Rahe, who graduated from baseball power Bancroft St. John’s High School in 1978, didn’t earn a spot in the basketball program as a BVU freshman. Undaunted, he tried out as a sophomore and earned a position with the junior varsity. He worked his way into varsity action as a backup guard in his junior and senior campaigns.
Coach Joel Grau credited Rahe’s defensive efforts off the bench in a 64-62 victory over Wartburg College in February 1981, a game in which fans and players stormed the court to celebrate a buzzer-beater by Beaver Dave Chapman.
“I remember that game,” Rahe says with a laugh. “That was undoubtedly the highlight of my career as a basketball player.”
Also mentioned in the writeup from that was guard Byron Peyton, a Beaver who also excelled on the baseball diamond and became Rahe’s closest friend among several.
“The 1980 baseball team was a terrific team and a very close-knit bunch,” Rahe says. “Byron still texts me after a big win.”
The big wins have occurred regularly in Rahe’s tenure at Weber State. Rahe is the first coach in the Big Sky Conference to be named Coach of the Year four times. He has guided the Wildcats to five league crowns and nine postseason tournament appearances, including three NCAA tournaments. He also coached the program’s first All-American in Damian Lillard, an NBA superstar for the Portland Trail Blazers.
“We coach our guys hard, and we are disciplined,” Rahe says. “We also coach everyone the same way. I make sure our walk-ons are given the same amount of attention as our top eight players. It is very important for our team that everyone feels the same way as the starters. I learned that from Coach Beekmann.”
Rahe also follows his BVU mentor by making sure he takes time for each one of his players on a daily basis.
“Coach Beekmann was terrific at instructing how players should give themselves up for their teammates,” he says. “In my way, I try to give something of myself by asking each student-athlete how they’re doing each day. We’ve tried to develop a culture based on relationships among all our players. Maybe that’s why we’ve had some success.”
Rahe’s trek from BVU to Weber State is one of work and sacrifice. During years of coaching junior high and high school sports, including basketball, Rahe began serving in collegiate basketball camps each summer. When a coach he knew earned a position as a head coach at a college in Colorado, Rahe signed on as his assistant.
“The coach told me he could pay me $1,200,” Rahe remembers. “I told him I could work for $1,200 per month. The coach laughed and said, ‘No, I can pay you $1,200 for the year!’”
Rahe filled the position, worked his way into a role as graduate assistant and kept staffing summer basketball camps run by collegiate coaches across the country. One year, Rahe served as a substitute teacher while volunteering on the staff of University of Denver Coach Dick Peth, who now coaches at Wartburg College. His 13-year association as an assistant for Coach Stew Morrill at Colorado State University and Utah State University would follow.
Sixteen years ago, he earned the head coaching position at Weber State and has been in Ogden ever since, building the Wildcat program while raising two sons, Luke, 22, and Kade, 19, with his wife, Laura, who, interestingly, works as an NCAA Division I women’s basketball official.
Weber State’s basketball players held an impromptu celebration for their coach following his 300th victory, a milestone that snuck up on Rahe as he worked building this current team, growing relationships. In a few moments of reflection days after the accomplishment, he mused about his experience as a student-athlete four decades ago.
“I loved my four years at BVU,” he says. “It was all about the relationships among faculty, coaches, and students in every sport. It was one big family.”