The 2012-13 season marked the seventh season for Weber State head coach Randy Rahe as head coach of the Wildcats. In seven years with the Wildcats Rahe has led the Wildcats to three Big Sky Championships and six post-season tournament appearances. He has also been named Big Sky Coach of the Year three times and has coached four Big Sky MVP’s.
In seven seasons Rahe has a career record of 150-75 (.667) overall at Weber State and is 92-24 (.793) in Big Sky Conference games. He has led the Wildcats to 20 or more wins in five of seven seasons with the team and has won 25 or more games in each of the past two seasons, including a Big Sky record 30 wins in 2012-13. Rahe’s 150 wins at Weber State is the third most coaching victories in school history and he is just three wins shy of passing Ron Abegglen for second place. His 92 Big Sky wins ranks as the fifth most victories in conference history.
Rahe has also coached 22 Big Sky All-Conference performers and 21 Big Sky Academic All-Conference performers in his team with the Wildcats. He has led WSU to 10 or more wins in conference play in all seven seasons at the helm, a Big Sky record.
Weber State is coming off a record-setting season in 2012-13. After losing All-American and NBA lottery pick Damian Lillard to the NBA, Rahe guided the Wildcats to a record setting 30 win season in 2012-13. WSU finished the year 30-7 overall and became the first team in Big Sky history to win 30 games in a season. The Wildcats won a record 18 Big Sky games and advanced to postseason play for the fifth straight season. WSU also became the first team in Big Sky history to advance to the championship game of a national postseason tournament where they lost 77-74 to East Carolina in the championship game of the Collegeinsider.com Tournament. The Wildcats also set a school record with 17 home wins and tied a school record with 11 road wins.
During the past season the Wildcats were the best shooting team in the country, finishing first in the nation in field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage. The ‘Cats also finished in the top 10 in the nation in four other categories and were one of just eight teams in the nation to win 30 games during the season. Davion Berry, Scott Bamforth, Kyle Tresnak and Frank Otis all earned Big Sky All-Conference honors.
Rahe has led the Wildcats to a remarkable 55-14 record over the last two seasons, including a 32-4 Big Sky record. He has led the Wildcats to the title game of the Big Sky Tournament in three of the last four seasons. Rahe has led the Wildcats to great success at the Dee Events Center. During the 2012-13 season Weber State set a school record with 17 home wins, finishing the year 17-2 at home. In seven seasons Rahe has a career record of 92-13 (.876) at home and is an incredible 54-4 (.931) at home in Big Sky regular season games. During the 2012-13 season the Wildcats also averaged 6,601 fans, by far the best average in the Big Sky and one of the best in the western United States. It was also the school’s best attendance average in 10 seasons.
During the 2011-12 season Weber State posted a 25-7 overall record and a 14-2 record in Big Sky Conference play and advanced to postseason play for the fifth time in Rahe’s six seasons with the team and won a first round game in the collegeinsider.com Postseason Tournament. Weber State also led the nation in free throw percentage at 81.4 percent, the single-best team percentage in the history of the Big Sky Conference. WSU also set a school record for three-point field goals made.
The 2011-12 season was highlighted by the play of All-American, District VIII Player of the Year, and Big Sky MVP Damian Lillard who had perhaps the greatest season in school history, finishing second in the nation in scoring at 24.5 points per game. Lillard set a school record for single-season points with 784, the third most points in Big Sky history and became the first player in the history of the conference to earn All-American honors. He was also a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award, John Wooden Award and Oscar Robertson Award. Lillard went on to become the sixth pick in the 2012 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers.
The 2010-11 season was another outstanding coaching job by Rahe. Despite losing reigning Big Sky MVP Damian Lillard to a season-ending injury just nine games into the season, the Wildcats still managed to post a season record of 18-14 and make a run at the Big Sky title. They also finished 11-5 in the Big, taking third in the league standings.
After starting the Big Sky season with a pair of road losses, the Wildcats won 11 of their next 13 league games to get into a fight for the league title. WSU beat Eastern Washington in the first round of the conference tournament, before losing in the semifinals of the tournament. The ‘Cats also advanced to the College Basketball Invitational where they lost to Oregon in the first round. Two players (Scott Bamforth and Kyle Bullinger) earned First Team Big Sky All-Conference honors.
Coach Rahe was hired as the ninth coach in Weber State history in March 2006. In his first season as head coach, with just three returning players from the previous season, Rahe put together a squad of newcomers and began the process of restoring the winning tradition of Wildcat basketball. That season he surpassed all expectations, leading the Wildcats to a 20-12 record and a tie for the Big Sky Conference regular-season title. The Wildcats then won the postseason conference tournament and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament. In the 2007-08 season Rahe led the Wildcats to a 16-14 overall record and a third place finish in the Big Sky. During the 2008-09 season, Weber State finished 15-1 in Big Sky Conference play and won the conference regular season title. WSU became the first Big Sky team ever to finish 8-0 on the road in conference action. WSU senior Kellen McCoy was named the Big Sky MVP.
In the 2009-10 season the Wildcats had another strong year where they repeated as Big Sky champions. WSU posted a 20-11 overall record and a 13-3 mark in Big Sky play. Sophomore Damian Lillard was honored as the Big Sky MVP. WSU advanced to the NIT for the second-straight season, losing at Cincinnati in the first round.
A native of Bancroft, Iowa, Rahe was a two-sport athlete at Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa as a point guard on the men’s basketball team and a shortstop on the baseball team. He earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1982. He began his coaching career on the high school level in Colorado. During his tenure as the head coach at Stratton High School (1985-88) he was twice named District Coach of the Year leading his teams to district and league championships in 1986, 1987 and 1988. His teams posted an overall mark of 54-17, earning two third-place finishes in state tournaments.
Rahe got his first taste of coaching on the collegiate level in 1988-89, when he joined the staff at Colorado College as an assistant. He went on to serve as an assistant at the University of Colorado (1989-90) and the University of Denver (1990-91) before beginning his long association with Stew Morrill at Colorado State and Utah State.
Following Morrill to Utah State, Rahe was part of an Aggie staff which, in six seasons, helped the team compile a 143-48 record, winning five Big West Conference championships, earn three appearances in the NCAA Tournament with a first round win over Ohio State and two NIT berths. In his last season (2003-04) at USU, the Aggies were ranked as high as 19th in the nation. From Utah State Rahe went to the University of Utah in 2004-05 where he would spend the next two seasons as an assistant coach under Ray Giacoletti. In his first season with the Utes, Utah finished 29-6, won the Mountain West Championship, and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. They were led that season by Andrew Bogut who earned National Player of the Year honors and went on to become the first pick in the 2005 NBA Draft.
Randy and his wife Laura are the parents of two sons, Luke and Kade. Laura is a women’s basketball official in the Mountain West and West Coast Conferences.
