DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After a decade and a half guiding the Embry-Riddle baseball program to new heights, head coach Randy Stegall announced he will be stepping down this offseason. Stegall and his family will be relocating to Indiana, where he will be the Assistant Athletic Director at Carroll High School.

Stegall, who came to ERAU prior to the 2007 season, has amassed 620 wins as a collegiate head coach, 551 of which came at the helm of the Blue & Gold.
 
Stegall inherited a collegiate powerhouse of a program in 2007 and added to the excellent tradition over his time in Daytona as the third skipper in ERAU history. He directed the Eagles to illustrious heights as a member of NAIA, making seven World Series appearances to go along with 13 conference championships and eight consecutive 40-win seasons. The 13-time Coach of the Year has guided 39 All-Americans and 19 MLB Draft selections over his 18 seasons as a head coach. Stegall also oversaw the successful transition from NAIA to Division II, culminating in his club's appearance in the Super Regionals in 2023, just one win away from the DII College World Series.
 
After spending two seasons playing for the University of South Carolina, earning All-SEC honors in 1995, Stegall wrapped up his college playing career at Cumberland, setting the school record in hitting (.479) and finishing fifth in the nation in runs scored (87), hits (113) and total bases (201) as a junior. He then began his coaching career at Cumberland as first assistant under Woody Hunt for five seasons. Following Cumberland, Stegall moved on to Indiana Tech for two seasons (a 69-44-2 mark) before making his way to Embry-Riddle in 2007. The Eagles finished 44-18 in his first campaign at the helm, beginning a run of eight consecutive seasons of at least 40 wins and a postseason appearance.
 
Following a rough season of transition between NAIA and NCAA II, Stegall led the Blue & Gold back to the postseason in 2019, reaching the NCAA II Regional for the first time in program history. When COVID changed the dynamics of the sports world in 2020 with a shortened season, Stegall rebounded his group and ultimately led the Eagles back to the postseason in 2024. ERAU took down No. 1 Tampa and No. 7 Saint Leo in a regular season that saw 35 Eagle victories. The Blue & Gold won the NCAA II South Region 2 bracket and advanced to the Super Regionals for the first time in program history.

 "My hero and the love of my life - my wife Laura Stegall - sacrificed her life/career to allow me this opportunity to realize my dream of leading a national powerhouse 17 years ago. What comes after this sentence would not be possible without her support and love through the years. When I stepped on campus 17 years ago, I had no children, literally had just gotten married the week before and was still fairly green as far as being a head coach goes. Embry-Riddle is where I grew up as a husband, father, and coach. My kids were born and raised in and around the Embry-Riddle baseball program so obviously my resignation is very emotional for me as a dad as well as a coach.

Embry-Riddle, and more specifically Coach Ridder, took a chance on a young coach with only two years' experience to take over a historical NAIA national powerhouse. And for that I couldn't be more grateful. Coach Ridder gave me a shot to coach at the best NAIA school in the country and I will be forever grateful to him for what he has done for me and my family. I knew the task of keeping Embry-Riddle a national power was going to be difficult, so I drew from alums (Johnny Yuzzolin, Luke Martin, Jade Brown), current players that played for Greg [Guilliams] (Chris Maloney, Branden Roper-Hubbert and Matt Steele) and explained to them the vision we had for the program. The communication of the vision lined up with what they all wanted as far as the direction of the program goes. Chuck Stegall and Dave Therneau were instrumental in helping the program grow to new levels on and off the field and we just kind of picked up where Greg and Todd [Guillimas] left off. Those two guys ARE the reason this program is at the level it is at now. I'll miss sharing the field with those two.

A huge thank you to Dave, Chuck, Ryan Mosher, Phillip Reamy, Branden Roper-Hubbert, Robert Clayton, Victor Diaz, John Koronka, Cody Henderson, Jeff Lemon, Matt Conyers, Kelley Lemon, Liz Conquest, Dave Gregson, John Haworth, Liam McIlhatton, John Phillips, John Mark Adkison, Maryellen Wynn, Mea Felps-Darley, Ken Perry, Dr. Sliwa and more I probably missed for impacting the program and making it what it is today - a well-oiled machine.

My memories of Embry-Riddle will be filled with the emotions of big wins, devastating losses, the bus trips to Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky. The everyday impact we had on the players' lives, watching them grow from graduating high school seniors to grown men, ready to have families and jobs is what I will miss the most. I will always cherish the dog piles after clinching a World Series berth and the anticipation of flying to Idaho and taking that two-and-a-half-hour bus trip from Spokane to Lewiston, feeling like 'man, all the sacrifice from August until now was worth it'. The NCAA regionals in 2019 and 2024 (Super Regional), just understanding what the program had gone through in 2017 and 2018 being on probation because of the NCAA membership process, and last year, knowing most of that group stuck with us through the COVID 2020 season and more specifically the decision to cancel our season in 2021. To see them be rewarded with a historic run to Super Regionals; those will be the on the field highlights I'll remember the most.

Finally, I'll miss the players immensely. We demand a lot out of our guys, and they continually show up and work hard to meet those daily expectations we have for them. I never was good at saying thank you to them in the moment, but I want them to know that I was NEVER blind to the work and effort they put in and I am beyond grateful they sold out and sacrificed so much for the coaching staff and the program. I'll miss competing with them under the lights, I'll miss the heat of "battle", and I can't express how much love I have for our guys that laid it on the line for us and the program every single day they laced 'em up. Thank you to all the players for taking me on the greatest professional journey of my life. To say I'll miss coaching is an understatement, but some good things have to end for better things to begin. And that better thing is my life with my kids, their journey through their teenage years on and off the court/field and being more present for my wife and my kids.

RIP (players know it comes for us all) Randy Stegall #41
 

While Stegall will be missed, Embry-Riddle baseball will enjoy continuity with its coaching staff. Dave Therneau has been elevated to head coach, while Chuck Stegall has been elevated to Associate Head Coach for the upcoming season. The duo traversed the 17-year journey with Stegall and will look to continue the growth and success of Embry-Riddle Baseball.