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Men’s lacrosse head coach Bill Tierney has brought a winning tradition to the University of Denver, posting a 35-14 overall record in three seasons and leading the Pioneers to the program’s first NCAA tournament victory and Final Four appearance in 2011.
Tierney joined the Pioneer staff in July of 2009 after more than 20 years as head coach at Princeton. Since then, he has expanded the lacrosse program dramatically across all levels and garnered national attention for a Denver team that competes in a sport restricted primarily to the East Coast. Tierney has coached the Pioneers to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances; the program had only reached the tournament twice prior to his tenure.
“Since I’ve been in Denver, there hasn’t been a day gone by where I’m not excited to get up and come to work in the morning,” said Tierney. “That’s a pretty cool thing. It can sometimes be stressful, but it is also so rewarding.
“Of course the winning and losing is important, with the two ECAC championships and the run to the Final Four. Those things are very important, but when you have a year like this year, where we’ve lost a few one-goal games, if you’re not happy in your job then you find those things to be overwhelmingly miserable. But I don’t feel that way. I am so proud of our guys.”
Tierney took over the lacrosse program in its first year as a member of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) in the 2010 season, leading the Pioneers to a perfect 7-0 conference record and an ECAC championship. During that season, Denver posted a record-setting nine-game winning streak.
In 2011, the team again posted an undefeated ECAC record, emerging victorious from the first-ever ECAC championship tournament and finishing with the best record in program history at 15-3. The Pioneers finished the season at No. 4 in the nation, the highest national ranking in program history, after a magical run to the Final Four. Tierney was honored as the ECAC Coach of the Year both seasons.
Tierney succeeded former head coach Jamie Munro, who led Denver men’s lacrosse for 11 seasons before his resignation in the spring of 2009. Tierney’s first roster included this season’s senior class, leaving eight Pioneers who have played under both coaches.
“It was a big change from Munro to Tierney,” said senior defensive player Steven Wylie. “Munro did a great job with us, but once we found out the new coach was Bill, it was like we won the lottery. It was an easy transition, to be honest. We’ve been fortunate with all of our success.”
Tierney implemented an entirely new system when he came to Denver, both on the lacrosse field and in the classroom. While the team was performing at an acceptable level on the field, having gone 17-14 the past two seasons and reaching the NCAA tournament in 2006 and 2008, Tierney said the program was lacking in its academic performance upon his arrival.
“I think that the program under Coach Munro had been built to a very sound level,” said Tierney. “I felt like the infrastructure was in place. Being at Princeton, though, what I found out there was kids don’t have to sacrifice being good students to be good lacrosse players. With some other sports, if you’re going to be the best, it becomes athlete-student, but with lacrosse you can still be a student-athlete. That allowed me to come here and insist on guidelines, insist on our guys going to class, going to study hall, getting good grades and graduating, or else they weren’t going to play.”
After placing such a heavy emphasis on academics, the team’s cumulative grade point average has increased from 2.6 to 3.2 in Tierney’s tenure. All eight seniors will graduate in the spring, and Tierney said he prides himself in helping to change the image of DU lacrosse players.
In his time at Princeton, Tierney amassed a highly accomplished record, including six NCAA Championships, eight NCAA championship game appearances, 10 NCAA Final Four appearances and 14 Ivy League Championships. He coached 26 players to First Team All-American honors and compiled a record of 238-86 in 22 seasons for an impressive .735 win percentage.
Before Tierney’s arrival in 1988, Princeton had compiled a 12-46 record in four seasons. Within four years, however, he took the Tigers to their first NCAA tournament in 1990 and led them to their first national title in 1992. Despite his success at Princeton, Tierney said the phone call from Denver in 2009 was exactly what he was looking for.
“Coming here wasn’t the risk that everyone made it out to be,” said Tierney. “I never felt at all that it was a step down. I had achieved a couple things in my career, and I felt like it was time for one more go around with something new. I had been offered five or six other jobs during my tenure at Princeton and I had turned them all down. This one just felt right.”
Prior to his time at Princeton, Tierney’s history in lacrosse was an interesting journey. After going to the State University of New York College at Cortland to play football, Tierney was cut from the football team after his freshman season because he was too small. It was then that he picked up lacrosse, never having played before college.
Tierney spent several years coaching first high school football and then lacrosse before receiving his first collegiate lacrosse head coaching position at Rochester Institute of Technology. In 1983, he was recognized as the Division III Coach of the Year after taking the team to its first NCAA tournament.
Tierney made the jump to Division I in 1985 as an assistant coach at Johns Hopkins, helping them to national titles in 1985 and 1987.
“[Going to Johns Hopkins] was a no brainer for me,” said Tierney. “It was one of the most storied lacrosse programs of all time. I continued to play some club and indoor lacrosse. And then in 1987 Princeton came calling, and the rest is history. I’ve been very blessed to be at great schools and coach a lot of great kids.”
Tierney was also recognized as the Division I Coach of the Year in 1992 with the Morris Touchstone Award. In 2009, he was honored as Lacrosse Magazine’s Person of the Year.
“He’s one of the best coaches that’s ever been in the game,” said volunteer assistant coach and Tierney’s son, Trevor Tierney. “He’s been around the game a long time, and he’s been around a lot of big games. I think he brings a lot of confidence to the guys.”
