Bill tierney denver. Bill Tierney’s Innovative Coaching Strategies at University of Denver Lacrosse

How is Bill Tierney adapting his coaching approach during the pandemic. What unique challenges is the Denver lacrosse team facing in the 2021 season. How are they managing to practice and compete safely despite COVID-19 restrictions.

Bill Tierney’s Storied Coaching Career

Bill Tierney is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and experienced coaches in college lacrosse. With a career spanning over three decades, Tierney has left an indelible mark on the sport. Before joining the University of Denver, he spent 22 years as the head coach at Princeton University, where he led the team to six NCAA Championships and eight NCAA championship final appearances.

During his tenure at Princeton, Tierney’s teams achieved remarkable success:

• 12 NCAA Final Four appearances
• 19 quarterfinal appearances
• 14 Ivy League Championships
• A career record of 238-86

In 2009, Tierney took on a new challenge by becoming the head coach of the University of Denver men’s lacrosse program. Since then, he has continued to demonstrate his coaching prowess, amassing an impressive 50-20 overall record and a 22-4 conference mark in his first few seasons with the Pioneers.

Navigating the 2021 Season Amidst a Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for collegiate sports, and lacrosse is no exception. Tierney and the University of Denver lacrosse team have had to adapt quickly to ensure they can continue practicing and competing while prioritizing safety.

How has the team managed to stay active during these uncertain times? Tierney credits the university’s extensive efforts to keep the Pioneers protected, describing their work as “mind-blowing.” The team has implemented several innovative strategies to maintain their training regimen and competitive edge:

• Running two practices a day to accommodate their 66-man roster while adhering to safety protocols
• Scheduling early-season games to maximize playing opportunities
• Adapting to last-minute changes and cancellations

Despite the challenges, Tierney remains optimistic about the team’s ability to navigate the season. He acknowledges the importance of flexibility and preparedness, stating, “We feel fortunate that we’ve gotten this far. Before the season, a lot of people questioned the fact that we would schedule a game so early. I’m no genius, but I figured some are going to get canceled. We couldn’t predict when they were. If we could do that, we’d be Dr. [Anthony] Fauci. So we just said, starting on Jan. 30, we’re going to schedule games.”

Early Season Experiences and Lessons Learned

The Denver Pioneers have already played three games in the 2021 season, providing valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for college lacrosse teams nationwide. What can other programs learn from Denver’s early experiences?

1. Flexibility is key: Teams must be prepared to adapt to last-minute changes and cancellations.
2. Safety protocols can be effective: Denver’s ability to field a team despite contact tracing measures suggests that lacrosse may navigate the season more like football than basketball.
3. Scheduling challenges: Early-season games may pit teams against opponents making their season debuts, creating unique preparation hurdles.
4. Physical and mental toll: Short turnarounds between games can significantly impact performance, as evidenced by Denver’s struggles against North Carolina following a close match with Duke.

Innovative Practice Strategies

One of the most significant challenges facing the Denver lacrosse team has been maintaining effective practice sessions while adhering to safety protocols. How has Coach Tierney addressed this issue?

The team has implemented a unique two-group practice system to ensure that all 66 players on the roster receive adequate training time. This approach allows for smaller group sizes, reducing the risk of potential virus transmission while still providing valuable instruction and development opportunities for every player.

What are the benefits of this two-group practice system?

• Increased individual attention for players
• Better adherence to social distancing guidelines
• More efficient use of practice time
• Opportunity for coaches to assess a wider range of players

While this system requires additional time and effort from the coaching staff, it has proven to be an effective solution for maintaining team cohesion and skill development during these challenging times.

The Impact of Limited Scouting Opportunities

One of the unique challenges facing the Denver lacrosse team in the early part of the 2021 season has been the lack of scouting information on their opponents. As one of the first teams to take the field, Denver has faced three consecutive opponents making their season debuts, each with the advantage of having scouted the Pioneers’ previous games.

How does this imbalance affect game preparation and strategy? Coach Tierney acknowledges the difficulty, stating, “It’s not an excuse. It just makes the awkwardness of the COVID situation even more awkward when you desperately want to help your team. One of the things I think we do very well here is prepare our team, and it’s very difficult to prepare your team without seeing the other team.”

To address this challenge, the coaching staff has had to rely more heavily on:

• Historical data and tendencies from previous seasons
• Focusing on their own team’s strengths and weaknesses
• In-game adjustments based on real-time observations
• Emphasizing adaptability and quick thinking among players

While not ideal, this situation has forced the team to become more flexible and resilient, potentially providing long-term benefits as they navigate the unpredictable landscape of the 2021 season.

Mental Health and Player Well-being

The unique challenges posed by the pandemic extend beyond the physical aspects of training and competition. How is Coach Tierney addressing the mental health and overall well-being of his players during these uncertain times?

Recognizing the importance of mental health in athletic performance, the Denver lacrosse program has implemented several initiatives to support their players:

• Regular check-ins with players to assess their mental state and address any concerns
• Providing access to mental health resources and counseling services
• Encouraging open communication within the team
• Emphasizing the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance
• Organizing virtual team-building activities to maintain social connections

By prioritizing the holistic well-being of their athletes, Coach Tierney and his staff are not only helping their players navigate the current challenges but also setting them up for long-term success both on and off the field.

Leveraging Technology for Team Development

In response to the limitations imposed by the pandemic, the Denver lacrosse program has embraced technology to enhance their training and preparation processes. How are they using digital tools to stay competitive?

Coach Tierney and his staff have implemented a range of technological solutions to support their players’ development and maintain team cohesion:

• Virtual film sessions for game analysis and opponent scouting
• Online playbook and strategy meetings
• Individual skill development tracking through video submissions
• Virtual team meetings and bonding activities
• Use of wearable technology to monitor player health and fitness

By leveraging these digital tools, the team has been able to maintain a high level of engagement and development, even when in-person interactions are limited. This embrace of technology may well become a permanent fixture in the program’s approach, providing long-term benefits beyond the current pandemic situation.

Building Resilience and Adaptability

The challenges faced by the Denver lacrosse team during the 2021 season have forced players and coaches alike to develop a heightened sense of resilience and adaptability. How is Coach Tierney fostering these qualities within his team?

Tierney’s approach to building resilience and adaptability includes:

1. Emphasizing a growth mindset: Encouraging players to view challenges as opportunities for learning and improvement
2. Practicing scenario-based training: Preparing the team for various unexpected situations they may encounter during games
3. Promoting leadership at all levels: Empowering players to take ownership of their roles and contribute to problem-solving
4. Celebrating small victories: Recognizing and reinforcing positive adaptations and resilient behaviors
5. Leading by example: Demonstrating flexibility and a positive attitude in the face of adversity

By fostering these qualities, Coach Tierney is not only preparing his team for the immediate challenges of the 2021 season but also equipping them with valuable life skills that will serve them well beyond their collegiate lacrosse careers.

The Long-term Impact of Pandemic Adaptations

As the Denver lacrosse team navigates the unique challenges of the 2021 season, it’s worth considering the potential long-term impacts of the adaptations they’ve made. How might these changes influence the future of college lacrosse?

Some potential lasting effects could include:

• Increased emphasis on flexibility in scheduling and game preparation
• Greater utilization of technology in training and team management
• Enhanced focus on player health and well-being, including mental health
• More efficient practice strategies, such as the two-group system
• Improved resilience and adaptability among players and coaches

While the challenges posed by the pandemic have been significant, the innovations and adaptations made by Coach Tierney and the Denver lacrosse program may ultimately contribute to the evolution and improvement of college lacrosse as a whole.

Conclusion

Bill Tierney’s leadership of the University of Denver lacrosse program during the 2021 season serves as a testament to his adaptability and innovative coaching approach. By embracing new strategies for practice, leveraging technology, and prioritizing player well-being, Tierney and his team have demonstrated resilience in the face of unprecedented challenges.

As the season progresses, the lessons learned and adaptations made by the Denver lacrosse program will likely prove valuable not only for their own success but also as a model for other collegiate sports programs navigating the complex landscape of competition during a global pandemic. The creativity and determination shown by Coach Tierney and his team serve as an inspiring example of how to thrive in the face of adversity, both on and off the lacrosse field.

Practicing in Two Groups, Denver and Bill Tierney Making Most of 2021

Practicing in Two Groups, Denver and Bill Tierney Making Most of 2021

Thu Feb 11 2021 | Patrick Stevens | College

PHOTO BY JEFFREY A. CAMARATI

Lucas Cotler (No. 34) has three goals and one assist over three games.

Denver coach Bill Tierney ranks among the most experienced people in college lacrosse. And for this moment, anyway, he’s dealt with coaching in a pandemic more than anyone in the sport.

The Pioneers have played three games well before most of Division I has taken the field once. The Pioneers opened with a Jan. 30 defeat of Utah, then dropped games at Duke and North Carolina in a three-day span over the weekend.

Tierney considers the work his university has done to keep the Pioneers as protected as possible to be “mind-blowing.” He marvels at how much his staff and team have adapted to the situation, including effectively running two practices a day so everyone on a 66-man roster gets some work in.

And he knows the work isn’t done, even if his team appeared to safely handle its first trip of the season.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” Tierney said. “We feel fortunate that we’ve gotten this far. Before the season, a lot of people questioned the fact that we would schedule a game so early. I’m no genius, but I figured some are going to get canceled. We couldn’t predict when they were. If we could do that, we’d be Dr. [Anthony] Fauci. So we just said, starting on Jan. 30, we’re going to schedule games.”

Denver’s early experiences illustrate themes that could well surface again as the season continues. The Pioneers were not at full strength over the weekend because of contact tracing measures, but they were still able to field most of a team. That unsurprisingly suggests lacrosse will navigate the season more like football than basketball, a sport in which one positive test usually leads to a team-wide pause.

Nonetheless, navigating the next few months will require plenty of discipline and assistance.

“It can be done with a lot of care and a lot of help from all the people around you,” Tierney said. “As much as we’re disappointed, and we couldn’t be any more disappointed, we are also encouraged that people care enough to make it work for our team to get from here to North Carolina and back over the course of four days and play two games against really good lacrosse teams and to find out who we are and where we are and give us a launching pad to where we want to be.”

Denver largely played well in a 12-10 loss at Duke, bolting to an early lead before the Blue Devils rallied in the second half. The Pioneers did not fare well with a short turnaround, absorbing a 24-13 setback at North Carolina that saw them trail 23-6 early in the fourth quarter.

Now comes another demand unlikely to arise outside a pandemic. When Denver welcomes Air Force on Saturday, it will be the Pioneers’ fourth consecutive opponent making its season debut and the third with the benefit of having scouted Tierney’s team in advance.

“It’s not an excuse. It just makes the awkwardness of the COVID situation even more awkward when you desperately want to help your team,” Tierney said. “One of the things I think we do very well here is prepare our team, and it’s very difficult to prepare your team without seeing the other team. Then to prepare your team for the buzzsaw we ran into [Sunday] was obviously not a good decision on my part.”

Founders — LXTC | LACROSSE TRAINING CENTER

BILL TIERNEY
University of Denver Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach / LXTC Lacrosse Owner and CEO
Twitter: @DUCoachTierney

One of collegiate lacrosse’s legendary coaches, Bill Tierney took over the reins of the University of Denver men’s lacrosse program in July 2009 after serving as the head coach at Princeton since the 1988 season. Since his arrival, Tierney has amassed an impressive 50-20 overall record (.714) and an even more impressive 22-4 conference mark.

In his 28 years of coaching, Tierney has amassed a resume that includes six NCAA Championships, eight NCAA championship final appearances, 12 NCAA Final Four appearances, 19 quarterfinal appearances, 14 Ivy League Championships and two ECAC Championships and three ECAC Regular Season Titles. He compiled a career record of 238-86 at Princeton and has a career collegiate record of 322-113 for an impressive .740 winning percentage.

THE PRINCETON YEARS 

In the 20 years prior to his arrival, Princeton did not win an Ivy League championship, did not play in an NCAA tournament and did not have a first-team All-America. His impact on the student-athletes at Princeton has resulted in 26 first-team All-Americans, 73 first-team All-Ivy League selections, seven Ivy League Players of the Year, six Ivy League Rookies of the Year and over 20 USILA Scholar All-Americas. He has recruited and coached two winners of the Lt. Raymond J. Enners Award as the national player of the year (David Morrow in 1993 and Scott Bacigalupo in 1994).

Tierney’s ability to win close games in the NCAA tournament is legendary. He is 30-12 all-time in NCAA Division I tournament games, including 14-4 in one-goal NCAA games. Four of his six NCAA championship games wins have been in overtime. Princeton was 12-46 in the four years prior to Tierney’s arrival, and his first team, in 1988, went 2-13. His first recruiting class, the Class of 1992, arrived the following fall.

The 1989 season saw Princeton improve to 6-8, and the Tigers broke though in 1990, reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time ever and defeating Johns Hopkins before losing to Yale in the quarterfinals. The 1991 season ended in heartbreaking style, as the Tigers lost 14-13 to Towson in the quarterfinals in three overtimes.

Princeton defeated Syracuse 10-9 in double overtime to win the 1992 national title, and the Tigers gave Tierney his second championship on Memorial Day 1994 with a 9-8 overtime win over Virginia. The Tigers again defeated Virginia in overtime in 1996 and then tied the largest victory margin in the championship game in 1997’s 19-7 win over Maryland. Title No. 5 was a 15-5 win over Maryland in 1998. Tierney then led Princeton to the NCAA championship game each year from 2000 to 2002, each time against Syracuse, including title No. 6 with a 10-9 overtime win in 2001.

THE EARLY YEARS

After helping Cortland State to the USILA college division championship as a senior in 1973, Tierney began his head coaching career at Great Neck South High on Long Island in 1976. He moved to Levittown High in 1980, and he went from there to his first college stop, Rochester Institute of Technology. Tierney won 10, 12 and 15 games at RIT, taking the school to its first two NCAA tournaments in 1983 and 1984. His next stop was Baltimore, where he served as an assistant at Johns Hopkins for three years. Tierney helped Hopkins to the national title in 1985 and 1987 and the national semifinals in 1986. He also coached the Blue Jay’s men’s soccer team, guiding the team to the 1986 NCAA Division III tournament for its first NCAA bid in 11 years.

HONORS AND AWARDS

Tierney won the Morris Touchstone Award as the Division I Coach of the Year in 1992 while at Princeton. He also was named the 1983 Division III Coach of the Year while at RIT, and he earned Nassau County Coach of the Year honors at both high schools. He was elected to the Long Island Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1995 and the New Jersey Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2009, Tierney was named US Lacrosse Magazine’s Person of the Year and then followed that with back-to-back ECAC Coach of the Year honors.

Tierney has recruited and coached two winners of the Lt. Raymond J. Enners Award as the national player of the year (David Morrow in 1993 and Scott Bacigalupo in 1994). Outside of his collegiate coaching honors, Tierney has coached the United States to the World Championship in 1998, and was inducted into the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame as part of the 2002 class.

THE TIERNEY FAMILY

Tierney and his wife Helen have four children. Trevor Tierney was a first-team All-America and the national goalie of the year before graduating from Princeton in 2001 with two NCAA championship rings. He won championships with the U.S. team at the 2002 World Championships and with the Baltimore Bayhawks of Major League Lacrosse, and he was also a member of the 2006 U.S. national team.

Brendan Tierney, who graduated in 2002, was an attackman/middie for the Tigers who scored the game-winning goal in Princeton’s 12-11 win over Virginia in the 2000 NCAA semifinals. He earned an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke and now works for Nike in Portland. Courtney Tierney played basketball at Franklin & Marshall and now is the head girls’ basketball coach at Pennington Prep in Central New Jersey. Brianne Tierney, who played lacrosse at Colgate, joined the Pioneers’ staff in August of 2012 as the Director of Lacrosse Operations and also serves as the head women’s lacrosse coach and assistant field hockey coach at Cherry Creek High School.

Bill Tierney Leaves Princeton To Become Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach At Denver

Story Links

• 
  TigerBlog Looks At Bill Tierney

Bill Tierney, who came to
Central Jersey more than two decades ago and built a forgotten program into a
six-time NCAA champion and 14-time Ivy League champion, is leaving PrincetonUniversity
to become the head men’s lacrosse coach at the University of Denver.

“I don’t leave Princeton unfulfilled, unhappy, or disappointed in any
way,” Tierney says. “I leave Princeton
for an opportunity that I never thought would come my way. I give my
deepest thanks to Princeton, to [University
President] Shirley Tilghman and to [Director of Athletics] Gary Walters. I
thank all of the wonderful players I’ve had here. I thank all of the great men
who’ve coached with me, especially David Metzbower and Bryce Chase. I have all
the confidence in the world that Princeton
will choose the right leadership to follow in my path.”

Tierney went 238-86 as Tiger head coach, including 13-3 in
2009, the last of his 22 seasons at Princeton.
Including his three seasons as RIT, Tierney is 272-93 as a college head coach.

His resume also includes leading the United States
team to the 1998 World Championship. He is a member of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall
of Fame.

In addition to six NCAA championships, Tierney took Princeton to eight NCAA finals, 10 NCAA Final Fours and
16 quarterfinal appearances, including one in 2009. Princeton
had never reached the NCAA tournament prior to his arrival.

While at Denver, Tierney will
coach with his son Trevor, an All-America goalie at Princeton
who played on the 1998 and 2001 NCAA championships teams, who will be an
assistant coach with the Pioneers. Tierney and his wife Helen will also be
closer to his youngest daughter Brianne, who is an assistant coach under former
Princeton great Theresa Sherry with California’s
women’s lacrosse program, and youngest son Brendan, who lives and works in Seattle. His other daughter Courtney will continue to coach at the Pennington School near Princeton.

“The University and the
athletic department obviously have bittersweet feelings about Bill’s decision
to take the head coaching position at Denver,”
Walters says. “We understand his interest in being closer to members of his
family and working with his son Trevor, while simultaneously taking on the
challenge of spreading the lacrosse Gospel to the Western states. We also
recognize the extraordinary contributions he has made to PrincetonUniversity
and the education of our student-athletes for 22 years.”

Tierney inherited a team that won five Ivy League games in
the four years prior to his arrival combined. Princeton
had not won an Ivy League championship in the 20 years prior to his arrival, in
the summer of 1987.

He told his first class of Princeton recruits that they
would win a national championship together and then went out and made that
happen with a 10-9 double overtime win over Syracuse on Memorial Day 1992.

Princeton followed with
NCAA titles in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2001. In all, Tierney went 30-12 in
NCAA tournament games, making him and Roy Simmons Jr. of Syracuse (with 34) the only coaches with at
least 30 Division I NCAA tournament wins. Of Tierney’s six NCAA championships,
four were won in overtime.

“Bill has been a great leader
of the Princeton lacrosse program and  a great ambassador for the athletic
department and the game of lacrosse itself,” Walters says. “At the same time, Princeton remains committed to the high quality of its men’s
lacrosse program, and as such we will now conduct a national search in as
timely a manner as possible.”

Tierney inherits a Denver team one year
removed from the NCAA tournament. The Pioneers went 7-8 in 2009, their final in
the Great Western Lacrosse League as they move to, ironically, the ECAC for
2010.

“The expansion of the game to
the West is exciting,” Tierney says. “If we are truly going to make
lacrosse a nationwide sport, we need for some programs out there to become
great.  I think I can help Colorado
lacrosse become the launching pad for that movement.  DenverUniversity
has had a short, ten-year Division I existence.

“I am proud of what we were able to do together at Princeton. This has not been an easy decision for me. I
am confident that Princeton lacrosse is in a
great position moving forward, and that is extremely important to me. ”

Princeton Coach Bill Tierney Heads To Denver

Longtime (22 years!) Princeton Men’s Lacrosse Coach, Bill Tierney, is leaving Princeton to take over the reins at Denver.  I looked at some of the lax.com comments and people seemed to be VERY confused as to why this would happen but when you look a little bit deeper, the move starts to make a lot of sense for pretty much everyone involved.

Princeton will actually be fine.  I am sure that they will interview new candidates and could pretty much have their pick of the bunch but in the end, my belief is that they will end up with Dave Metzbower as their next Head Coach.  Metzbower has been an assistant with Tierney for TWENTY years and is more than ready to take over the Tigers’ program.  He had been promoted to Associate Head Coach well before Tierney’s departure was announced and truly knows ALL aspect of the game of lacrosse.  The Princeton program will be in good hands.

Bill Tierney will now head to Denver where performance on the lacrosse team both on the field and in the classroom has been lacking at times.   Munro made big strides with the program but it is this writer’s opinion that Munro was recruiting kids who were great lacrosse players but maybe had some side issues.  That was possibly evident with the dismissal of three Denver players this year although the specifics of those cases are not publicly spoken about much and I will not get into conjecture here when it comes to the lives of current college students.  I’ll stick to conjecture as it relates to coaches and administrators… since those are the guys actually getting paid.

Tierney is a leader and molder of men. plain and simple.  He will take athletes and make them work within a system and will not rely on star players to get the job done as Munro did.  This isn’t a knock on Munro at all, just a comparison of their two distinct styles.  Tierney will expect greatness from his kids in the classroom and within the larger community.  He is not a guy that messes around, takes his lacrosse seriously but recognizes that lax is only a small part of the overall college experience.   His focus almost seems to be primarily on helping these boys become great men and THEN it comes to lacrosse.  As a big believer in “academics first” this move means great things for Denver.

Finally, some will argue that Bill is getting old and will look to retire in the next 5 years and they ask why Denver would take that risk.  Did they do it just to get Bill for as long as they could?  maybe… but those same people seem to be forgetting that Bill has a son named Trevor, who is a top notch goalie and seems to be very interested in coaching as a career.  My guess is that Trevor joins Bill at Denver as his top assistant and then takes over when Bill retires.  With Trevor’s cousin, Seth Tierney, as the head coach at Hofstra the Tierneys are truly becoming lacrosse’s first coaching family and Denver has got to be very excited to get in on the action.  Maybe kids will start going to lacrosse games out in Denver instead of only cheering for the Pioneers hockey team… baby steps!

For more articles on Tierney’s journey westward, check out:

Bill Tierney’s story far from over – DU Clarion

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.

Bill Tierney, former Princeton lacrosse coach, helps expand the sport westward

Andrew Fielding/US PresswireBill Tierney won four NCAA lacrosse titles at Princeton. He now coaches at the University of Denver.

Bill Tierney brought his burgeoning Denver lacrosse program to Long Island last month to play blue-blooded Duke amid a hotbed for lacrosse talent. After the Pioneers’ victory, Tierney was asked how his team’s performance could aid his recruiting efforts in the area.

The question made Tierney laugh.

The former Princeton coach, who won six NCAA titles with the Tigers, left New Jersey for Denver in the summer of 2009. Seen as the steward of lacrosse’s westward expansion, Tierney did not think he needed to maintain an East Coast presence to succeed in the Rockies.

“We got kids from all over the country and we’re a pretty good team as it is,” Tierney said this week. “Hopefully this kind of exposure brings some kids that say, ‘Wow, that’s something I think would be cool. I’ve never thought of that before.’ So that’s going to open people’s eyes. But honestly, I don’t care where they come from.”

The roster that topped Duke included players from 18 American states and two Canadian provinces. That’s the group that won its first NCAA Tournament game against Villanova last weekend and plays another of the sport’s elite — Johns Hopkins — today in Hempstead, N.Y., for a chance to reach the national semifinals next weekend.

A victory would be historic, sending Denver to the Final Four and firmly validating Tierney’s one-man Lewis and Clark expedition. Only eight schools have ever won lacrosse’s national championship. The farthest west any school is located is Syracuse.

Notre Dame reached the championship game last season, marking the first school from the Midwest to reach the finals. Denver and Air Force remain the only Division 1 schools west of the Mississippi River.

Marquette and Michigan are adding Division 1 programs, though, as the game spreads beyond the reaches of Interstate 95 and players from the metropolitan area overcome the inherent stigma of playing for a school that usually requires a flight.

“There is [a stigma], until you get on the plane and realize it’s a three-hour flight,” Tierney said. “And if they tried to go town to Baltimore and went on route 95 at the wrong time, it might be a five-hour drive.”

Leaving New Jersey was never an issue for Denver senior Emerson Eichler, a Morristown native who went to boarding school in Connecticut. He had taken ski trips to Colorado and enjoyed the outdoors. What stood out to him upon arriving was the talent of the players from around North America.

“It absolutely opened my eyes,” Eichler said. “We have kids from California who are so athletic and still pretty good. And even places like Oregon, the local guys from Denver, they’re all really good players. I’d say something I never experienced before I came out to Denver were the Canadians I never had the opportunity to play with.”

Eichler arrived at Denver before Tierney, and the Pioneers already had five winning seasons before he enrolled. Compared with Princeton, which had losing seasons in the four seasons before Tierney became head coach, Denver was already a rising program that needed a boost.

Tierney admitted surprise in how quickly Denver won its first postseason game, the first major step of Tierney’s turnaround. But he held few doubts that it would eventually happen, especially when there is more talent to be found in more places. The next step is finally cracking the barrier of winning a championship.

“In a sport like lacrosse that’s so, so ingrained in the East, the champions all being there, I think it will be a story when somebody wins one from out here,” Tierney said. “Whether that happens this year or five years from now or 10 years from now, it will still be quite a challenge for the rest of the history of lacrosse to overcome the Syracuses and Johns Hopkinses of the world.”

Zach Berman: [email protected]

Denver’s Bill Tierney affirms his coaching legacy with another NCAA national title

Philadelphia received a special visit over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Denver’s Bill Tierney, the John Wooden of men’s collegiate lacrosse occupied Lincoln Financial Field and elevated the Pioneers’ program to national prominence. Before 2010, before Tierney arrived, any mention of Denver lacrosse may have had those who follow the sport scratching their heads and wondering who, what?

Now the Pioneers are national champions, thanks to a 10-5 victory over Maryland before 24,215 at the Linc, and thanks to Tierney, the former Princeton coach whose renown attracted elite players to the picturesque Rocky Mountain campus and made the Pioneers the best in the country. It was Denver’s first NCAA men’s’ Division I national lacrosse championship, after advancing to four of the last five Final Fours.

The national title was an unprecedented seventh personally for Tierney, who won six national championships at Princeton. He became the first coach in NCAA men’s’ Division I lacrosse history to win NCAA Division I national championships at two different schools. 

In lacrosse parlance, Tierney is in that rarified Wooden air. The Denver nickname is the Pioneers, and they are in a sense, as the western-most school to ever win a Division I men’s lacrosse title. The victory helps steer growing attention to Denver, and to states that are growing lacrosse like California and Washington. It’s no longer a Northeastern-based sport — and that growth spurt is a credit to Tierney’s success at Denver.

But Tierney didn’t want to hear about Wooden comparisons. To him, it’s just about providing a strong program for the players that attend Denver, now on the national map. Just moments before, Tierney’s players were calling him the greatest lacrosse coach of all-time, and he’s definitely on that pantheon.

“I feel blessed to be in this situation,” Tierney said. “I just don’t feel like I’m in Wooden territory. I just don’t feel like that. But I do feel very complimented to even be mentioned with such a great coach as him. Why me, I ask? I don’t think about my legacy. My guys just won a national championship, so they’ll say anything nice about me. Two weeks ago, when I was ripping them a new butthole, they wouldn’t have said that. I’m truly thankful for the way my players feel, and the way people feel about me, but honestly, I don’t think that way about myself.”

Local product Matt Rambo, Maryland’s sophomore leading scorer out of La Salle, was held to two goals on 2-for-8 shooting, after scoring a game-high four goals to lead the Terrapins to a 12-11 victory over Johns Hopkins in Saturday’s semifinal, including the game-winning goal. Rambo earned a place on the all-tournament team. 

But the day belonged to Denver, which led from start to finish.

The Pioneers got out to a 3-0 start and were threatened just once, on a Bryan Cole goal with 3:46 left in the half, which put Maryland within 5-3. Denver began the second half scoring three unanswered goals and secured the game.

“It’s a quick turnaround to the finals (from Saturday’s semifinals), and you can change the poles and sliding patterns (on defense), but (Denver) did everything that we pretty much expected,” Maryland coach John Tillman said.

“Denver executed really well and we had a tough time getting leverage. We got stagnant off the ball on offense and not cutting to the pipes, or moving inside as much as we could have. That much said, we had some looks and we just got stubborn a little bit with our shooting. I have to give credit to (Denver goalie) Ryan LaPlante, he played great. He was good (on the high shots), so we spoke about changing our levels. It’s easier said than done sometimes because you get the ball and rely on your instincts.”

NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship

When using text, please include a link to this page.

The NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Tournament defines the annual NCAA Division I Men’s Leading Lacrosse Team. This tournament has identified the National Champion since the first NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship in the 1971 Division I. From 1936 to 1970, the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) awarded Wingate Memorial Trophy to the annual NCAA Division I champion, based on regular season records.

History

NCAA Championship 2009. Syracuse Premium Play – Cornell at Gillette Stadium. Syracuse To Win 10-9 OT.

The first Division I Championship tournament held in 1971 replaced the USILA and Wingate Memorial Trophy national titles. As of 2016, there have been 46 NCAA tournaments. Eleven teams this season – the Towson Tigers, the 2006 Massachusetts Minuteman, the 2010 Irish Combat Notre Dame, the 2011 and 2012 Maryland Terrapins and the 2016 North Carolina Tar Heels – have advanced to the championship semifinals, and only ten unseeded teams have advanced to the semi-finals. tournament, the most recent being North Carolina in 2016.Johns Hopkins competed in all but two tournaments (1971 and 2013). The number one seed in the tournament has won the title 17 times and there were 13 undefeated national champions. North Carolina became the first undefeated team to win a national title in 2016.

Originally composed of eight teams, the area of ​​the tournament field has changed over the years, increasing to 10 in 1986, 12 in 1987, 16 in 2003 and 18 in 2014, and finally decreasing to the current 17 command field.The two semi-final games and the final have been played on the same weekend at the same stadium since 1986. All three matches were always scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, with the semi-final on Saturday afternoon and the final on the holiday itself.
Historically, sports were concentrated in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states, and today the heart of the United States stretches from New England to North Carolina. Only six schools outside the Northeast / Mid-Atlantic United States participated in NCAA tournaments – Air Force, Butler, Denver, Marquette, Notre Dame and Ohio.Until Denver in 2015, no team west of the Eastern Time Zone won the NCAA Championship.
19 coaches have won titles in the first division: Richie Moran, Glenn Thiel, Bad Birdmore, Bob Scott, Henry Ciccarone, Willie Scroggs Jr, Roy Simmons Jr, Dave Klarmann, Don Zimmerman, Bill Tierney, Dom Starsia, John Desco, Dave Pietramala, John Danovski, Charlie Toomey, John Tillman (lacrosse), Joe Breski, Andy Shay and Lars Tiffany. Tierney was the only one to win in two different schools (Princeton and Denver).

Results

TV channel titles

Text on this page is based on a translation of a page from Wikipedia NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship

Material used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License

gaz.wiki – gaz.wiki

Navigation

• Main page

Languages

• Deutsch
• Français
• Nederlands
• Russian
• Italiano
• Español
• Polski
• Português
• Norsk
• Suomen kieli
• Magyar
• Čeština
• Türkçe
• Dansk
• Română
• Svenska

Do’h NUT | News archive | February 2002

Congratulations to all on Defender of the Fatherland Day! Hurray comrades!

15 questions with Harry Shearer

1.) The characters you voice have become
often used in the new season, which one is the most for you
to your liking?
Mr. Burns.
2.) Which of the characters is the hardest to voice,
and which one “kills”?
Otto is not very easy, and the “late” Doctor
Marvin Monroe was the worst of all.
3.) Which of the characters do you find annoying,
which one gets on your nerves?
None.
Only bad spelling.
4.) Could you share any
ideas or ideas for future episodes?
I don’t remember, unfortunately we are recording these shows
a year before their show. So this is ancient history for us.
5.) You are very experienced in Hollywood as an actor,
screenwriter, director, producer and the like including a songwriter.
What role do you enjoy playing the most?
I like everything, each one offers me a different
load and interest.Directed if I had to choose something
one thing, because it combines many skills, and this is problem solving
non-stop day and night, which solves my boredom problem.
90,013 90,077 6.) This season you get $ 2 million
(if involved in each episode of the season), before the budget was
eerily low, how do you feel about the success the show has acquired?
Compared to the general public, we are overpaid
in large sizes.Comparing with the stars of other TV shows, we work
more than we get for it.
7.) How long are you willing to work on the show before
how do you say, “I’ve had enough”?
Until Rupert announces bonkrotka.
(Harry talks about Rupert Murdock, the owner
FOX)
8.) I listened to the recordings of “Le Show” from your
site. I must say they are very funny how you find so many
time for different projects?
I ignore my loved ones.
9.) In Wayne’s World II you played Radio DJ, but in real life
do you have a radio program, how did you use your professional
radio DJ skills, in the character of Marty from KBBL radio in The Simpsons?
Posuti, I collected an image from all the terrible interviews,
which I gave to morning DJs at various times in my career.
10.) Which of the most perverted characters to you
had to play in a comedy or drama, for example, it could be funny,
but your character on Friends was a pervert?
I think Richard Nixon, who I played in all
sketches in our comedy group in the 70s, he was clearly not normal,
but the most interesting character I’ve ever played.And the second was Bill Clinton.
11.) Which Simpsons episode is your favorite, despite
whether you were in it or not?
I am in all series. I like the three-eyed episode
fish and, and that episode where Homer eats a psychedelic pepper.
12.) You are clearly a big fan of Spinal Tap,
what it was like to play Derek Smalls in “This
Is Spinal Tap “, did Derek give you any directions, tips?
Derek told me absolutely everything.I was just doing
what he said.
13.) In the new episode, “Weekend at Burnsey’s”,
your character, Ned Flanders, will protest the use of
medical marijuana, will this series cause controversy?
I doubt it. The days of controversy about our series are over.
14.) You have finished recording Season 13, if so,
how much has been done in the 14th?
WE finished on 13, 14 will we start somewhere in March?
15.) In your contract you are signed to though
would one or less than two of the Simpsons movies be said in the studio?
No talk at all. Where do you get information
about our “contracts”?

.