Walax.com Exclusive Interview with Bill Tierney, Head Coach of D1 Princeton Tigers

Exclusively for our readers we have gained interviews with Head Coaches from the top D1 programs in the country.  We'll be publishing these during the spring season for your viewing pleasure. This week we interview Bill Tierney of the Princeton Tigers.

Bill Tierney arrived in Princeton in 1987, just in time to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the last Ivy League championship the Tigers had won and the last first-team All-America the Tigers had produced.  Now, 18 years later, Tierney can look back on six NCAA championships, eight NCAA championship games, nine NCAA Final Four appearances and 12 Ivy League championships. He has coached the United States to the World Championship, and he has been inducted into the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Beyond that, his success with the Tigers has led to a growth in the sport of lacrosse in Central New Jersey, an area where the sport has gone from almost non-existent to booming on the youth and high school levels.  All four of his young children have grown, and both boys played for him with the Tigers, a family affair that culminated in 2001 when father and sons Trevor and Brendan won Princeton's sixth NCAA championship together.  

The extended lacrosse family at Princeton under Tierney includes 23 first-team All-Americas, 65 first-team All-Ivy League selections, seven Ivy League Players of the Year, five Ivy League Rookies of the Year and 19 USILA Scholar All-Americas. When they've left Princeton, they've made their marks in careers such surgeons, lawyers, military officers and investment bankers, as well as leaders in the development and advancement of the sport of lacrosse and as coaches and professional players.

"Coach Tierney helped me reach beyond my full potential as a lacrosse player," says Jon Hess, the 1997 Ivy League Player of the Year and a member of three NCAA championship teams. "That's something he's done for all of his players. His ability to do that is what makes him the coach that he is, and I'll always be grateful to him for that."

Tierney has a record of 192-61 at Princeton and 226-68 overall, including his three years as head coach Rochester Institute of Technology. Tierney also spent three seasons at Johns Hopkins as an assistant coach, helping the Blue Jays to the 1985 and 1987 NCAA championships. Hopkins has not won a national title since Tierney left.

Tierney's ability to win close games in the NCAA tournament is legendary. His 28-9 NCAA Division I tournament record is the best in history, and he is 14-3 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.

We had our first team meeting, and Coach Tierney kept the freshmen around when it was over," says Mike Mariano, a first-team All-America defenseman in 1992. "He looked at us, and he said `whether you know it or not, you guys are the ones who are going to win the national championship.' We were like, `sure, whatever.' "

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 State 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, winning title No. 6 with a 10-9 overtime win over Syracuse in 2001 and falling to the Orangemen in 2000 and 2002.

The 2004 Tigers, a team that began the season with only four players who had ever started a game before, won Tierney his 10th straight Ivy title and returned to the NCAA Final Four.

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 in his three seasons 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. He did this despite having almost no soccer background.

Tierney left Hopkins in 1988 to become the ninth head coach of lacrosse at Princeton. The Tigers had won just five Ivy League games in the four years before Tierney became coach, but he led Princeton to the NCAA tournament in his third season.

Tierney won the Morris Touchstone Award as the Division I Coach of the Year in 1992. He also was named the 1983 Division III Coach of the Year, 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 1997 and the New Jersey Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1999.

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).

Tierney and his wife Helen have four children: Trevor (24), Brendan (23), Courtney (22) and Brianne (20). Trevor was a first-team All-America and the national goalie of the year before graduating from Princeton in 2001 with two NCAA championship rings. A member of the U.S. national team that won the 2002 World Championships in Australia, Trevor also plays for the New Jersey Pride in Major League Lacrosse. Brendan, 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. Courtney, a 1,000-point scorer in high school, played basketball player at Franklin & Marshall and now coaches at Rutgers Prep. Brianne is a junior lacrosse player at Colgate.

 

What can a kid do on the West Coast to affect his opportunity to be recruited for Lacrosse on the East Coast?

Until the West Coast has Division I Men's lacrosse, the dilemma for the high school players, will be how to be seen.  Although there are a few recruiting camps popping up out west, it is still a good idea for the west coast players to come east to recruiting camps (i.e. Top 205), to be seen. Some of the team tournament camps are good, but they are growing and it is hard for all kids on all teams to be seen.  Let the coaches know ahead of time, where you will be playing in the summer. Video tapes and DVD's are a help, but only as an introduction, as most coaches will not conduct their final recruiting off of video.  The student athletes should do as well as possible in school, take numerous SAT I and II exams, and be proactive in email and letters to the college coaches of the schools they are considering.  They should be flexible and choose a school based on the personal characteristics they are looking for, NOT THE NUMBER OF RECRUITING LETTERS THEY RECEIVE. 

 

What personal characteristics do you seek in your Lacrosse recruits?

I seek good people who care a lot about their family, their academics, and their lacrosse.  Obviously, to compete at the highest levels of the game, we have to find highly skilled players who can run well, and learn well. We have our choice of many good players, it is the personal qualities that make the difference.  There is a lot of physical and skill growth that takes place between junior year in high school and sophomore year in college.  For this reason, we want young men to come to us with the desire to improve as a player and as a person.

Do you find value in recruiting companies, or are kids throwing their money away thinking this helps their chances of being recruited?

I personally find no value in recruiting services.  I think the money invested in these would be better spent on SAT tutoring and individual athletic training.  Lacrosse is not a sport where recruiting is based solely on 40 times and bench press totals.  The skill, understanding of the game, and desire cannot be measured by a recruiting service, especially if they have no idea about lacrosse.  A boy and his family can do all of the same things a service can do, but most importantly should arrange to be seen.  I know of no top level lacrosse coach who counts on these services to recruit.

An age old question: which would you rather: an athlete with little Lacrosse skill but lots of “Lacrosse potential” or a very skilled player with slightly less athletic ability?

It depends.  Lacrosse is still a sport where the highly skilled "non athlete" can find himself scoring a lot of goals.  The great athletes are beginning to dominate the game, and the good news is that many of them also come with great skills.  Potential is a great word and we all look for it, but recruiting is so intense now, it is hard to use one of your precious spots in hopes that a great athlete will learn to catch and throw.  When they do however, those kids become great success stories.  Therefore, refer back to question #2.

Young players here are constantly worried about exposure and how to get their playing capabilities more visible to top level programs like yours. Do you have any suggestions on how best to do this?

As mentioned previously, it is important to get "east" for a camp or two at a young age, just to let people know you are out there.  As sophomore and junior year arrive, they should go to camps or tournaments that will give them the most exposure in the shortest amount of time. This, combined with some game film can help a great deal.  It is difficult right now, but we all know that there are great players from every area of the country now, and we are all keeping our eyes out for good talent from the "non-traditional" places like the west coast.

After the recruiting process is finished, and players begin playing for you, what type of player is most successful at the college level for four years?

The type of player who is most successful for us stays out of trouble, cares for his teammates, works hard in school, accepts a team-first attitude, respects his opponents, works hard to improve individually, and accepts his role whether he is a star or a reserve player.  Ultimately, playing college lacrosse is an opportunity to possibly get a better education than you would have if you didn't play.  Take advantage of this opportunity and do all you can to succeed on the athletic and academic fronts.

 

Lets talk about midfielders- some coaches find “between the lines” middies a tremendous asset; other coaches may choose “shooters” or great “d-middies”. What is your perfect midfielder?

ALL THREE.  Every team needs scorers and in these days of off-set sticks and baggy pockets, true scorers are very hard to find.  We are always are on patrol for good defensive short-sticks, which it one of the most important positions on our team, yet the least heralded.  Finally, the game is now moving toward more transition, so a "full-field" middie or two is very important to the success of the team.  The key is to find a way to successfully combine all three types.

 

Defensemen? “Take away artists” versus “body position” defensemen.? What is your perfect Defensemen?

To me, the only thing that "take away" artists do is "take away" your opportunity for championships.  With the sticks made the way they are now, a take-away defenseman is only going to be successful 20% of the time and his mistakes will cost his team much more than that.  Defense is played by 6 defenders and a goalie, and they must be in sync and must be able to trust one another to play within a team system to be successful.  Over-aggressive defensemen are very popular when things go right, but usually they foul a lot and are undisciplined, which can lead to many disappointments when trying to defend against a great offensive team.

 

Attackman? “Drive and dump” feeding Attackmen versus “shooters”? What is your perfect Attackman?

See question #7.  This game is made of so many different types of players and that is what makes it great.  We all need scorers and ball handlers or we will not win.  The key for a coach is to mix and match his personnel, so that the skills of his offensive players are coordinated into a unified effort to win.

 

 

Lacrosse is only part of college life. What role outside of Lacrosse do you feel a coach should play?

 

A head coach is devoted to the well-being of the young man who comes to play for him.  He must be a father, role-model, tutor, counselor, and disciplinarian all rolled up into one.  I find myself recruiting a lot, but also talking with my players about their academic and personal lives, as well as their trials and tribulations with their academics and families.  Lacrosse is the catalyst, but being a college coach is so much more.  I tell my team all the time, that I do not want to be their friend for the four years they are here, because I want to be their friend for the rest of their lives.

 

How has the growth of strong club teams across the US helped or hurt your talent pool for recruiting?

Neither.  I am not a great fan of the club system because I am a great fan of high school sports and high school coaches.  The club system has had a negative effect on many sports in our country and I see the same thing happening in boy's lacrosse.  Are there advantages of being on a club team?  Of course, especially if it affords greater opportunities to play, meet other people, and grow as a person and player.  The money, politics, and parental distress that the club system can cause however can undermine the potential for the positive that could arise as a result of these teams.  I still want my recruits playing high school soccer, football, basketball and hockey.  Year-round lacrosse is not healthy, unless there is a balance with other sports, academics, and family and social time.

 

 

The west coast is still on the upward rise for Lacrosse development, do you foresee this as a role the lacrosse community collectively plays to develop? How do you see your involvement as a DI college coach?

People love lacrosse.  It is magnetic and exciting, and it is growing faster than any sport in our country.  I have seen communities grow together because of it, and seen some divide because of it.  As long as it is offering more opportunities for young men to stay involved with sports, working harder academically, and helping them mature in a positive fashion, I see lacrosse as being an amazing aid to community pride.  As a Division I lacrosse coach, I try to foster this growth as best I can by being available to speak and share with my players their need to give back to the lacrosse community, by being role models.

 

Finally, if you had one piece of advice to give an aspiring player who wanted to participate in your program, what would that be?

 

The minute you get ready to put your stick down, take 10 more shots with your weak hand.

 

 

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