Morningside Expected to Name Randle as Girls’ Basketball Coach

Ron Randle, co-coach of the Morningside High boys’ basketball team the past six years, will succeed Frank Scott as the coach of the girls’ team, according to sources.

A recommendation will be made at a meeting of the Inglewood school board Wednesday night, when Randle is expected to be approved for the job, sources said.

Scott, who coached the Morningside girls for 10 years, resigned in August to become a part-time assistant coach with the USC women’s team.

Randle, 35, inherits one of the nation’s most successful girls’ basketball programs. The Lady Monarchs have won the past two state Division I titles and 88 consecutive league games, nine short of the CIF-Southern Section record.

Morningside returns four starters, led by two All-CIF selections: 6-foot-4 junior center Janet Davis and 5-9 senior guard Princess Murray. The major loss was 6-5 consensus All-American Lisa Leslie, now a freshman at USC.

Randle has shared coaching duties of the Morningside boys’ basketball team with Carl Franklin since the 1984-85 season. Randle was an assistant for two seasons prior to that. During that time, Morningside won six league titles and a Southern Section championship--the 3-A Division title in 1985.

Randle and Franklin were honored as The Times South Bay Coaches of the Year last season.

Randle’s only previous experience coaching a women’s basketball team was in the 1985-86 season, when he was an assistant at Santa Monica College.