Randell was a gymnast in his teen years and, several decades later, he's still busting out some ridiculously nimble moves.
Mouths drop open when he turns up at the annual Otumoetai College Peer Support and Leadership Camp in gym gear and no glasses.
"I show them and do everything with them," Randell says as he lands his feet back on the carpet.
"I have a stunned audience initially ... I'll say 'now you might not be able to do this but being an ex-gymnast I can'."
This makes me smile as I picture the looks on their faces. It's not every principal that can compete with teenagers in fitness.
But Randell is not too intimidating. He's a hands on hips, smiley kind of guy - and the man can talk too.
Get him going and he barely takes a breath as he waves his hands and chugs on like a stream train. He's a journalist's dream - if you can keep up.
The Tauranga granddad has never shied away from discussing tough subjects. When the going gets tough, Randell gets going.
"You have your hard times but you've got to get it in balance and perspective," he says. "The good times outweigh the bad."
And, quite admirably, Randell has always fronted up to the media in tough situations.
A flick back through the Bay of Plenty Times archives shows eight Otumoetai students have died in the past five years. There was a brawl on the school field that made national news and a teacher pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine.
In five years of interviewing Randell, he has never said "no comment".
He is always up to date with education affairs and always has an opinion.
This is his 40th year in education and 24th year as a secondary school principal.
He appears on the outside, somewhat of a workaholic but swears he's not.
An average day for Randell begins at 6am with a gym workout. He's at school by 7.15am, has 11 to 15 meetings a day and gets home at 6.30pm. Although, those days can stretch to 9.30pm or 10.30pm if there's a night-time meeting, or school event.
On the weekends, he's a supporter at school sports games.
He arrived back to school from the Christmas holidays on January 12, although confesses he probably could have stretched it out for another fortnight. But ... "I pride myself on my organisation".
Taking centre stage on his desk is a fat, lime-green ring-binder called The Manual.
"Every organisational thing is in that manual," Randell says. "It's got to be updated every year."
Not every school has one but Randell insists his does.
I say to Randell he must be exhausted in this job. He replies: "There's not enough hours in the day.
"I still enjoy the job. In a school like this, there's never a dull moment."
He's empathetic towards young people, "not sympathetic", and says relationships and academic performance seem to worry teens the most today.
If they want to talk, Randell likes to think they can come to him and have a seat on his office couch. "Being a father", he doesn't mind a good old chat.
"When I was at school, the principal was this character who lived in an office and we never saw him. He was a grumpy sod ... a disciplinarian."
Randell grew up in Rotorua and didn't initially think he wanted to be a teacher. He planned to follow his father into the trades but, at 16, his father was killed in a road accident and Randell had a change of heart.
He put himself through university, working part-time in a garage and obtained a teaching scholarship.
He taught at Rotorua Lakes High School for 16 years under principal Des Price, who was "a very demanding person with very high expectations".
One day, Price told Randell "you've applied for the principal's job at Taihape College". "He'd done it for me," Randell quips.
Randell got the job, was there seven years and then moved on to Hamilton's Melville High School for five years.
In the space of one school term, he had four students commit suicide, his first wife, Leonie, died from cancer, a teacher died of cancer and another teacher suffered "major" health problems.
Just listening to him airing such a hard time makes me wonder why he stayed.
"Tragedy builds comradeship. When the chips are down, you pull together.
"There are several Randell rules in this school. The number one Randell rule is you come first. Your family is second and work is third."
Kind words from someone who today, is running New Zealand's seventh largest secondary school with an annual turn-over of $25 million.
Randell has accepted he leads a "public sort of existence".
"There's probably not a restaurant [in Tauranga] without a current or ex-Otumoetai student."
He tells me a swim and fish and chips on the beach, with wife Jude the other night, turned into a meet and greet with parents of current and prospective students.
"We have a rule that Sunday is our day. We go for a bike ride or do a lunchie-brunch."
Randell says Jude, who runs their business, the Bethlehem Health & Tea Shop, is his ultimate calming influence.
"She's a woman you can't get angry with, she's so passive and that's why I love her to bits."
Randell will not go on school trips without her. He tells me he's read Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. That's very new-age, I think.
I want him to tell me some other stuff people might not know about him.
Does he keep up with what's hot and what's not, in the teenage world?
Funnily enough, he likes Lady Gaga. I didn't see that one coming.
"I like the beat of the music. It's upbeat and keeps you going. My kids can't believe it."
He also has an iPhone.
"When iPods and MP3 players came out I had no idea what they were," he says. "But we'd confiscate them in class and you'd end up saying 'well, how does it work?"'
He has a collection of 2500 match-box cars at home, and 300 fire engines. In his garage, he has a 2006 Ford XR6. He loves Fords.
His "retirement job" will be to make "huge" displays for all his miniature cars, many of which currently live in boxes.
Randell also loves gardening. Roses are his favourite. He dons rugby shorts for gardening duties and and says gardening is therapeutic.
"[Plants] don't argue or expect an answer."
Board of Trustees chairman Andy Ralph says Randell is successful as a principal because he's driven by passion.
"He seems to know everything that's going on and he's very good at reporting to the board. He's very information focused."
There is also a "humanity" about Randell, Ralph says.
"He's able to touch a lot of human kind of conditions and he seems to have this gift to relate to a very wide cross section."
Janine Goldthorpe, Randell's personal assistant of nine years, says Otumoetai students love Randell.
"He, to me, speaks to the kids like a parent should speak to their kids. He gets a lot of boys in his office who perhaps don't have a father in their life ... and he's huge on second chances.
"He's got an extremely generous spirit. He would give you the shirt off his back."
Jude Randell agrees: "When his father died at 16, he was a very angry young man. I think he can empathise with those kids who are angry now. He's had a very tough life himself."
Family is extremely important to him and, about 15 years ago, Randell didn't hesitate to donate bone marrow to his sister, Kay.
"She's my sister. You do anything you can."
Kay unfortunately did not survive, dying in Randell's arms three days later.
As well as losing Leonie and Kay, Randall has also lost his niece, Nadine, to cancer and Jude too, has had a brush with cancer but is healthy now.
"Out of all bad things, good things come," Jude says. "And he's really developed an empathy now. He might seem strong and staunch, but underneath it, he's a lamb."
