NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Newman’s road to a three-peat starts right now, and for the first time in school history, it will be paved with two “Randy Livingston’s” on the roster – Head Coach Randy Livingston and his son, “RJ” or Randy Livingston, Jr.
“The move here was mainly focused on my development,” RJ told WGNO in July. “Nothing else. Just getting better every day. Not worried about the outside noise, like offers, talking to other coaches, just getting better, and I know he’s going to get me to the next level.”
RJ won a state championship as an eighth grader in Florida and after a stellar freshman season, started fielding phone calls and sit-downs with college coaches. But his most meaningful sit down was with his mom.
“It was a funny story. My mom sat me down one day, and she just asked me, ‘What’s the best thing for you?’ And I said, go to New Orleans, and play with my dad. She was all in. She put everything in my hands for the most part. Putting trust in him and faith in him.”
Until he made the decision to transfer to Newman, RJ lived in Florida with his mom during the school year and spent summers with his Dad. Now, all three will be back in New Orleans.
“It’s a good feeling just to be around him now full time as father and son,” Coach Livingston said. “But you’ve also got to wear a different hat…coach. I mean, you still got to take care of the rest of the team, but it’s something you dream about, and we just want to make sure we give him and the rest of the kids the best chance to be successful, not only at Newman but afterwards.”
The timing of RJ’s arrival couldn’t be better with Newman losing Canin Jefferson to North Alabama and Chris Lockett to Boise State. The Greenies return a few key pieces from last year’s title team, but Coach Livingston said they still have a lot of work to do before the upcoming season.
“I know it sounds cliche, but this is a new team, they haven’t really won anything. Todd Jones, Chris Lehman, they’ve all been in the fire. The rest of the guys have never been in the fire. That’s why we played the amount of games we played this summer,” Livingston said of his young team.
As a player in the 90’s, Randy Livingston led Newman to three consecutive Class 2A titles, and has a chance to do the same as the Greenies head coach.
“By the time January comes I can tell you a bigger picture about that,” he said when asked about the three-peat. “But my goal as a coach and as the leader of the program at Newman is just to work as hard as we can, step by step, brick by brick. But yeah, I want to be the first player to win three straight and first coach to win three straight.”
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