| C. Randy Taylor | |
| Alma Mater: | Ohio State University |
| Player Sport1: | Football |
| Player Years2: | 1924–1926 |
| Player Team2: | Tufts |
| Player Sport3: | Basketball |
| Player Team4: | Tufts |
| Player Sport5: | Track |
| Player Years6: | c. 1925 |
| Player Team6: | Tufts |
| Player Positions: | Halfback (football) |
| Coach Sport1: | Football |
| Coach Years2: | 1927 |
| Coach Team2: | Johnson C. Smith (assistant) |
| Coach Years3: | 1928 |
| Coach Team3: | Johnson C. Smith |
| Coach Years4: | 1933 |
| Coach Team4: | Douglass HS (OK) (assistant) |
| Coach Years5: | 1934 |
| Coach Team5: | Shaw (assistant) |
| Coach Years6: | 1937–1940 |
| Coach Team6: | Tillotson |
| Coach Years7: | 1941–1942 |
| Coach Team7: | Bluefield State |
| Coach Years8: | 1947–1950 |
| Coach Team8: | Kentucky State |
| Coach Sport9: | Basketball |
| Coach Years10: | 1928–1929 |
| Coach Team10: | Johnson C. Smith |
| Coach Years11: | 1936–1939 |
| Coach Team11: | Tillotson |
| Bowl Record: | 1–0 |
Claude Randolph Taylor was an American football, basketball, and track and field coach and educator. He served as the head football coach at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, Tillotson College—now a part of Huston–Tillotson University—in Austin, Texas, Bluefield State College in Bluefield, West Virginia, and Kentucky State College for Negroes—now known as Kentucky State University—in Frankfort, Kentucky. Taylor was also the head basketball coach at Johnson C. Smith for one season, in 1928–29, tallying a mark of 6–11.
Taylor was a native of Harlem in New York City. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School, where starred in football and track.[1] He then matriculated at Tufts College—now known as Tufts University—where he played football and basketball and ran track, before graduating in 1927 with a Bachelor of Science degree. As a senior, he was named the school's best all-around athlete.[2]
In 1933, Taylor was hired as a science teacher at Douglass High School in Oklahoma City. He was also appointed assistant football coach under head coach L. L. McGee.[3] The following year, he was hired at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina as a biology instructor and assistant football coach under head football coach James Lytle.[4]
Taylor served as the head football coach at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky for four seasons, from 1947 to 1950, compiling a record of 21–16–2. After the 1950 season, he was succeeded as head football coach by Big Bertha Edwards, who had assisted Taylor as backfield coach. Taylor remained the school's track coach.[5]