Sonoraville High School Wrestling Coach 2017-2024

With a career that spanned over four decades, Coach Randy Steward left an extraordinary mark on the sport of wrestling — both nationally and here in Gordon County. Since taking over as head wrestling coach at Sonoraville High School in 2017, he led the program to incredible success, including back-to-back AAA Traditional State Championships in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and a runner-up finish in 2017.

Under his leadership, Sonoraville earned six consecutive top-3 finishes at the AAA Dual State Championships, (2017- 2nd, 2018 – 1st, 2019-1st, 2020-1st, 2021-2nd, 2022-3^rd), coached eight individual state champions, and in 2019, finished with a dominant 34-1 dual record, 12 state qualifiers, and eight tournament titles. That same year, Coach Steward was named Georgia High School Wrestling Coach of the Year.

Before arriving in Georgia, he served as head wrestling coach at Loras College in Iowa from 1993 to 2016. He became the winningest coach in school history, leading his teams to national Top 24 finishes 14 times — including six Top 11 finishes — while coaching 66 national qualifiers, 36 All-Americans, and 3 national champions. He earned Iowa Conference Coach of the Year honors four times and was named NCAA Central Region Coach of the Year. He was inducted to the Hall of Fame at Loras College in 2024, and The National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2024, receiving accolades for “Lifetime Service to Wrestling”.  (the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is situated in Stillwater, Oklahoma)

His earlier coaching roles included stints at Ellsworth Community College, Adams High School (CO), Lafayette High (GA), and Dixie Hollins High (FL). He is a D-III NWCA Hall of Fame inductee, Central DeWitt High School Hall of Fame inductee, and has held numerous national leadership roles, including President of the D-III Coaches Association and NWCA Board Member.

Coach Steward was also a Certified Silver Level Wrestling Coach through the USA Wrestling National Coaches Association.

He was a devoted husband to Lori, proud father to Jake (Hailee) and daughter Helen, and a beaming grandfather to Hattie. He was also a proud stepdad/father to Lori’s children: Emily, Eric, Liz, Evan and Ellen, and deeply cherished their 19 grandchildren.