Former West Charlotte star Randall Ingram named head football coach at West Meck
Former West Charlotte football star Randall Ingram, a three-time all-conference player, has been named head coach at West Mecklenburg High School.
Ingram, now 41, began his playing career at Chambers High School in 1999, where he played three seasons. He transferred to West Charlotte for the 2001-02 school year and played for the Lions’ football and basketball teams.
He’s been coaching high school football since 2013 and said he’s applied for 11 different head coaching jobs. This was the first time he’s been a finalist.
“I want to say I’m ecstatic,” Ingram said. “(Charlotte) is where I grew up. But I’m glad someone finally told me yes. I got a lot of no’s. I applied 10 times and got six interviews and got six no’s. It makes you feel less than. And I’m such a confident guy.
“Going into these interviews and then chatting with my peers, I’m like, ‘I got it. I did great.’ And then you get that letter and it says, ‘We decided to go with another candidate.’ It doesn’t feel good. I can tell you that.”
Because West Mecklenburg athletic director Ryan Lutz told him yes, Ingram said he’s “going to go all out” for a Hawks’ team that was 1-10 under Beady Waddell last season. Waddell was well-liked in the community and coached at the school for six seasons, going 19-40.
West Meck — which has produced top-tier talents like quarterback Maseo Bolin, a former star at N.C. A&T, and Jacksonville Jaguars’ receiver Dyami Brown — hasn’t had a winning season since 2019.
The Hawks had four straight winning seasons from 2016-19.
Ingram plans to get back to that quickly.
“We’re going to be one of the toughest teams around,” he said. “We’ll be disciplined and we’ll play hard. You’ve got to run the ball when it gets cold outside, but we’ll be explosive. West Meck has always had some athletes, going back to Maseo Bolin and (former N.C. State QB Jalan) McClendon. They’ve always got an athlete or two.”
In high school, Ingram was a shifty receiver. He played at Winston-Salem State for two years after leaving West Charlotte and then was out of football for 10 years until Gary Richmond, then offensive coordinator at Hopewell, asked him to come coach.
Ingram played under Richmond, when Richmond was offensive coordinator at Chambers.
“The biggest thing about Randall is how smart he is,” said Richmond, now a co-host of The Observer’s streaming Talking Preps show. “As a player, he knew what every position was supposed to do. There would be times where he practiced all week at wide receiver and I would say, ‘OK, I need you to go play tailback,’ or ‘We need you to play safety.’ He understood what the position required and knew how to do it. And on top of that, he was ultra competitive. He hated to lose.”
Ingram has been married for six years to his wife, Jordan. They have two daughters: 6-year-old Bailey and 1-year-old Blakely.
After working at Hopewell for three years, Ingram worked at Chambers for four, under former Cougars’ coach Aaron Brand. Ingram later helped Brand turn Irmo (SC) into a state powerhouse as offensive coordinator from 2019-24.
Last fall, Ingram coached the secondary at Airport High in Columbia, S.C.
And Richmond thinks that West Meck made a great move when it became the first school to tell Ingram yes to his head coaching ambitions.
“I think he’ll be organized and disciplined,” Richmond said, “and I think he’ll understand that the kids need to have fun. But he’s going to harp on the fundamentals. He knows the fundamentals. I think West Meck got a good one. Some of those schools that passed up on him, well, they missed out, and they’re going to regret not hiring him.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2026 at 8:16 PM.