About
Sixty years inside the sport, not beside it.
Randy "Pops" Goettlicher has spent his career doing three things: teaching players, building the leagues they play in, and writing the rules those leagues run on. Very few people in billiards have done all three. Fewer still are still doing them.
Randy began teaching before pool instruction was a profession with standards attached. When the Billiard Congress of America decided to build those standards, he was one of four instructors it recognized as Masters — and one of the people who helped design the certification program that credentials coaches to this day.
Alongside the teaching he founded a league in 1983, became the first APA League Operator in Texas, co-wrote the Texas Express Rules, and spent a decade running as many as twenty-five tournaments a year. With his wife Karen he created the Scotch-Doubles team format, and the two of them ran it as the first Tournament Directors of that event at the BCA Nationals.
He has served on the BCA Board of Directors and spent thirty years on its Rules Committee. In 2008 he published Play Better Pool, two instructional films presented with Scott Lee that put Set, Pause, Finish & Freeze (SPF & F) on record and remain in print. He founded HOF Billiard Academy in 2009 and still graduates hundreds of students and certified instructors from it every year. He is currently working with China on teaching and league strategy.
The HOF Billiard Academy mark, as Randy uses it on his own materials.
In 2024 the sport returned the compliment twice: induction into the ACS Hall of Fame as an Instructor, and into the inaugural class of the Texas Billiards Hall of Fame. He chairs the ACS Hall of Fame Committee himself.
“Evaluating what REALLY happened is critical to success.”
That sentence is the whole of his teaching philosophy. A player who cannot describe what their body actually did cannot correct it, and will spend years practicing a guess. Everything in the SPF & F method exists to turn a stroke into something you can observe rather than something you have to feel.
At a glance
- One of the original four PBIA Master Instructors
- Inducted into two Halls of Fame in 2024
- Co-founder of the Professional Billiard Instructors Association
- Co-originator of the SPF & F method
In his own words
Sixty years, told by the man who was there.
Everything above is the record. This is Randy telling it himself — how he started, how the instructor program got built, and what sixty years of teaching actually taught him.
A long-form interview covering six decades in the sport — how he started, how the instructor program was built, and what he has learned teaching it.
The record
What sixty years actually looks like.
Grouped by the kind of work rather than strictly by date, because much of it ran in parallel.
Teaching
1982–2009
Founding member, Cue-Tech Pool School
Twenty-seven years teaching at one of the schools that established formal pool instruction in the United States.
2008
Published Play Better Pool, Volumes 1 and 2
Instructional films presented with Scott Lee, teaching Set, Pause, Finish & Freeze alongside stance, cueing, pre-shot routine and speed control. Still in print.
2009–present
Founded HOF Billiard Academy
Still graduating hundreds of students and certified instructors every year.
Currently
Consulting internationally
Working with China on teaching and league strategy.
Leagues
1983
Founded the Southwest Eightball League
Built from scratch, in an era when organized amateur play barely existed.
Texas' first APA League Operator
Also a VNEA League Operator — two of the largest amateur leagues in the sport.
Tournaments
Co-founded Texas Express Promotions Group
Developed the Texas Express Rules, and organized the first National 9-Ball Tour.
Ten years on the road
Running as many as twenty-five tournaments a year across the country.
Created the Scotch-Doubles team format with Karen Goettlicher
The pair went on to serve as the first Scotch-Doubles Tournament Directors at the BCA Nationals.
Governance
BCA Board of Directors
A three-year term, alongside thirty years on the BCA Rules Committee.
One of the original four PBIA Master Instructors
Co-founded the Professional Billiard Instructors Association and later chaired its Instructor Committee.
2024
Inducted into the ACS Hall of Fame
In the Instructor category. He also chairs the ACS Hall of Fame Committee.
2024
Inducted into the Texas Billiards Hall of Fame
One of five in its inaugural class, at Round Rock — alongside Gilbert Martinez, Belinda Calhoun, Jeremy Jones and Bob Vanover.
The record is only useful if it helps your game.
Tell Randy where your game is and what is going wrong with it. He will tell you honestly whether he can help, and what it would take.
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