Lakeland native Randy Lee promoted to Southeastern head men's hoops coach
The recent resignation of Southeastern University men's basketball coach Kevin Lubbers opened up an opportunity for a familiar face to lead the way for the Fire this upcoming season.
Lakeland native Randy Lee, who played at Lakeland High from 1988-90 before eventually becoming head coach at Lake Wales High in 2012, was promoted to head coach at Southeastern effective Friday. Lee served as an assistant coach and recruiter at Southeastern the past two years. He was also an assistant coach at Polk State College in 2019, and a head coach at The Vanguard School in Lake Wales in 2020.
Before the local head coaching jobs, Lee was the head coach at Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, the University of Maine at Machias and Orono High School in Maine.
“The moment I got the call and was offered the position, I was ecstatic with the opportunity, (and) thankful for coach (Drew) Watson believing in me," Lee said. "And then also thankful for the former coaches (at) Southeastern, both under my tenure there: Coach Lubbers and Coach R-Jay Barsh, plus the other coaches that came before that really helped build Southeastern basketball over the course of the years.”
Lee was an assistant coach when the Fire won their first Sun Conference Tournament in 2018, finishing the year with a 21-10 record. As an assistant and recruiter the past two years, he helped the program go 34-25. This past season, the program was ranked as high as No. 18 in the NAIA and made it to the first round of the NAIA's national tournament.
Lee has plenty of goals for his team in the future.
“Each year the ultimate goal is to win a national title," he said. "That’s what I think everybody is playing for. But there are small goals as part of that. We just want to continue to make sure we improve daily. Continue to get better (as) a collective unit.
"We've got newcomers coming in, making sure they get adjusted and we continue to do well academically (and) graduate our young men and then also instill faith within them, so when they go out into the workforce, they become productive citizens, husbands, fathers. That’s reflected in their journey at Southeastern as well.”
Watson, the school's athletic director, echoed some of those same sentiments.
“As we look for head coaches, the priorities of a faith-infused program, academic success and competitive excellence are the non-negotiables,” Watson said. “Lee is a tremendous recruiter and knows our program. He will continue to build on the foundation of healthy culture in Fire basketball while pushing the program’s trajectory forward as one of the top teams in the NAIA. I am excited for him and looking forward to seeing what he can do as a head coach.”
Three Fire players have moved on due to graduation — Sam Brown, Devon Ford and Jordan Gorman, who averaged 10.4 points and shot 45% from downtown last season.
However, Riley Minix, the Sun Conference Player of the Year in 2022, will return for his senior year. Minix was also an NAIA All-American and was on the Bevo Francis Top 50 list in 2021-22.
Lubbers, a two-time Sun Conference Coach of the Year, reflected on his three years at Southeastern.
“I am thankful that I had the opportunity to be a small part of the larger story that continues to be written at SEU, and in the men’s basketball program,” Lubbers said. “The success of our program over the last several years has Randy Lee’s fingerprints all over it. He has been a humble, loyal, and committed presence and it gives me great joy to see him take over leadership of this program.”
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland native Randy Lee promoted to Southeastern head men's hoops coach
