Surrounded by accolades showcased neatly throughout an armoire in his office commemorating extensive successes over 34 years sits one of the most legendary coaches in men’s lacrosse, Bill Tierney, munching on a cucumber salad. The New York native coached the Denver Pioneers to their first national championship last season in 2015 after joining the program in 2009.
Tierney has collected a whopping seven national titles throughout his career as a head coach, marking the most of any Division I lacrosse coach. He is the only coach to have earned national championships at two programs. Despite his celebrity and honorable status within the lacrosse world, Tierney radiates humility and provides wise insight beyond the sport. He’s not one to boast about his phenomenal achievements.
Tierney was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2002, but the modest 63 year-old recognizes his successes as a group effort.
“I’m not a big quote guy, but there’s a quote there [hanging in his office], ‘You judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.’ When I did my Hall of Fame speech I changed it to, ‘Judge your success by what others had to give up in order for you to get it,’” said Tierney. “With everything you do, there’s a group of people all doing their part and then you get the credit. It’s bizarre. When I look back at those numbers, I can honestly say I was blessed to find the right places at the right times.”
Having never actually played the sport in high school, Tierney picked up lacrosse at Cortland State University. The sport has evolved immensely since Tierney’s career in the early ‘70s.
“We played with heavy wooden sticks and leather gloves and helmets. I don’t think I ever saw one film of myself actually playing. It’s night and day now. Just yesterday we had a drone filming our practice for film,” Tierney said.
Tierney had early aspirations of becoming a coach. He began his collegiate coaching career in 1980 at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He led RIT to their first NCAA tournaments in 1983 and 1984, where he won Division III Coach of the Year. Tierney then joined Johns Hopkins University as an assistant lacrosse coach, winning national championships in 1985 and 1987. Simultaneously, Tierney was appointed head soccer coach for Hopkins.
Without any prior soccer knowledge, Tierney coached the team to their first winning season and their first NCAA tournament appearance in a span of two years. His success as a soccer coach greatly aided in his hiring as the lacrosse head coach for Princeton University in 1988.
Within four years of accepting the position, Tierney restored Princeton’s lacrosse program to greatness, earning six national titles, five of which occurred within the same decade (the ‘90s). He even had the opportunity to coach his two sons, Trevor and Brendan. Tierney is the only lacrosse coach to have won a national title while coaching his sons, a feat the trio accomplished in 2001.
Tierney’s decision to leave Princeton for Denver in 2009 was questioned by many in the lacrosse community, wondering why Tierney would leave a program so rich in history for one that was only ten years old. The driving force behind the decision was to expand the sport. Tierney’s conquest west was unselfish and aimed to increase the growth of the sport.
“I started thinking a lot about the expansion of the game. I knew it was growing out here [in the west] and needed a jolt. I felt like this was the perfect spot to do it,” Tierney said. “I felt like we could kick this program off and get it going where it has gone and hopefully will continue to go. It always needs a jolt to get people excited and interested, but after that, it just takes off.”
Tierney’s plans for Denver lacrosse don’t conclude with winning a national title. Ideally, he hopes the program will remain “right where it is. To always be the defending national champs.”
“The idea isn’t just winning a championship one time. We want this [program] to be sustained. That doesn’t mean you win a national championship every year, it means you are competing for a national championship every year. You establish a level of excellence that you want to sustain, so every new guy that comes into the program feels a responsibility to maintain the path that’s been laid out before him,” said Tierney.
As a coach, Tierney holds his players to a high level of excellence and discipline. He expects his players to exert honorable character on and off the field.
“Calling kids to a higher standard is difficult these days, but it makes life ahead easier,” Tierney said. “There’s not another lacrosse team in the country that wears a jersey underneath their reversible practice shirt. It’s a little thing, but it’s an identifier. Every day when we leave that locker room it is to be immaculate.”
Tierney cultivates a family environment within the program by constantly telling his guys, “I love you,” and building personal relationships with his players. Tierney’s impressive success reflects his individual character, integrity and passion for coaching.
His dedication to developing relationships with his players and initiative for growing lacrosse are substantial attributes of Tierney’s legacy. Luckily for the Pioneers, the coach signed a contract extension last fall and will remain with the Pioneers through 2022, continuing his quest of establishing lacrosse as a prevalent sport in the west.
