Surrounded by teachers, military officers his whole life, Pitt defensive coordinator Randy Bates always just wanted to coach

EL PASO, Texas — When Randy Bates was in his late 20s and coached at the U.S. Naval Academy, he met many high-ranking Marine officers who taught him a disciplined lifestyle and how to pass it on to others.

“I had a lot of appreciation for the Marines. I think they are a real class group,” he said.

Didn’t matter. Young Randy wanted to coach like his father, Sam.

Everyone in Bates’ immediate family is a school teacher, but that was not his desired career path. When Saint Joseph’s College, a tiny, private institution in Rensselaer, Ind., offered him a chance to be defensive coordinator at the age of 24, he couldn’t pack his bags fast enough.

“My wife (Tracey) would tell you, I’m one of the few people who knew since I was 12 years old I wanted to be a football coach. Maybe sooner.”

So it was destined, so it has come to be. Bates, who has been Pitt’s defensive coordinator since 2018, will conclude his 41st season doing what he loves when the Panthers play UCLA on Friday in the Sun Bowl.

Bowl games are the one slice of a college team’s schedule that mixes business with pleasure. On Tuesday night, the Pitt and UCLA teams visited the 174-year-old Fort Bliss U.S. Army base, where players more accustomed to riding buses sat in 55-ton tanks.

At Fort Bliss, servicemen and servicewomen are trained for duty in the Middle East. Many of them have been called to El Paso to help protect the U.S. border with Mexico.

Bates, who retired as a Naval Lieutenant when he joined the football staff at New Hampshire in 1992, enjoyed reliving his military days.

“They taught me how to work with guys and be positive and still get them to do what they needed to do,” he said Wednesday after Pitt’s last full practice of the week at Eastwood High School.

Not unlike what he has done throughout his coaching career. “Very similar stuff,” he said.

He also got a closer look at those who devote their life to the military.

“We (Randy and Tracey) learned it was a lot harder life than we certainly were living,” he said. “We became more appreciative of what they do.”

After coaching at Miami (Ohio) as a graduate assistant, Bates did the obligatory journey through several stops, including New Hampshire, where was on a staff with UCLA coach Chip Kelly, the man he will be trying to outsmart Friday.

“He was a bright coach,” Bates said. “You could always tell he was going to be successful.”

His next stop was Kent State, where Dean Pees, now the Atlanta Falcons’ defensive coordinator, hired him to coach linebackers, including former Steeler James Harrison.

From there, Bates, 62, coached at Louisiana Tech for six seasons and Northwestern for 12 before he settled in a Pitt. He has made his mark with the Panthers, who have put up some impressive numbers under Bates.

• Pitt has recorded 196 sacks in the past four seasons.

• The defense never fell lower than 12th nationally against the run from 2019 through 12 games this season.

• When Pitt finished sixth in the nation last year, allowing an average of 89.3 rushing yards per game, it was the best at Pitt since 1981.

• Pitt is 16th in the nation in total defense this season (318.7), but six defensive starters/regulars are missing this week while UCLA sports the No. 3 offense (507.8).

Among those absent is injured consensus All-American tackle Calijah Kancey. But Bates and his defensive staff like to keep everyone involved throughout the season. They believe no one will step on the field Friday without the proper seasoning.

“We have a lot of kids who started a lot of games, but certainly (Kancey) is a tremendous loss,” Bates said.

His love for coaching kept him out of a high school classroom — like his father, who was a coach and Bates’ health teacher at John Glenn High School in New Concord, Ohio — but he teaches people every day at Pitt.

“(Coaching) is a fun part of being an educator,” he said. “Now I’m teaching all my coaches to be teachers.”

Bates’ coaching style is to never ask his players to do anything he won’t do.

To that end, he does sit-ups and push-ups in front of his players as a means of motivation. He did 20 sit-ups every day this week.

“I start back when I get to 30. My back starts hurting, he said, laughing, “I start getting too many.”