By James Joseph
WSL Senior Features Writer

DENVER -- Bill Tierney often thought he’d spend the rest of his coaching career at Princeton.

And why not? He’d built the Tigers’ program into a power, won six national titles and, in 22 years, had become an institution at the school akin to Mike Krzyzewski at Duke or Joe Paterno at Penn State.

He was successful. He was happy. His legacy was secure. And he’d turned down other coaching offers plenty of times before. But when the University of Denver contacted him last spring, he found himself listening.

His son, Trevor, lived there and played for Major League Lacrosse’s Denver Outlaws. The athletic department was driven and thirsty for success. And lacrosse was exploding in the West.

Most of all, Tierney realized that the job offer presented him “a life decision.”

“At 58, do you make a change, or do you stick with what’s making you happy at that point and know you’ll be content and that all’s OK and that nobody can take what you’ve done away?” Tierney said. “Or do you jump in the pool one more time and do something new and exciting and with risk.”

Splash.

Tierney is back in the water with a challenge that 10 years ago would have seemed impossible and even now seems to have an extreme level of difficulty: Bringing a national title to a school outside of the Mid-Atlantic region.

“That’s got to be our goal,” Tierney said. “And I’ve got all the support here to make that happen. Will it happen? We’ll see. But it’s a lot less far-fetched here than in Princeton.”

When Tierney took over at Princeton, the administration simply wanted Tierney to win some games and compete for an Ivy League title every once in a while.

“They just wanted the program to get on decent footing because it had had such a glorious history,” Tierney said. “But I wasn’t willing to set my goals that low. So I set them high.”

And within five seasons, Princeton was a national champion.

With Tierney at the helm, the Tigers went 238-86, reached the NCAA title game eight times and got to the quarterfinals 16 times – including in 2009. In the 20 years prior to his arrival, Princeton did not win an Ivy League championship. It won the title 14 times in Tierney’s 22 years.

Now he’ll try to bring that kind of success to Denver.

“My initial thoughts (when Tierney was hired) were just through the roof that we were getting a talented coach that knows what he’s doing and that’s won championship upon championship,” Denver senior defenseman Dillon Roy said. “Playing for a guy of that stature, it’s surreal.”

Denver still is a relatively new program and – despite its recent and rapid growth – lacrosse still is in its infancy west of the Mississippi. That poses some unique challenges for Tierney.

One has to do with recruiting. Because lacrosse is a spring sport, the recruiting cycle starts earlier. Coaches often are looking for commitments from juniors. And the problem with that is NCAA rules forbid schools from paying for recruits to visit their campuses when they are juniors. That means no flights, no rooms, no meals. So it’s often hard to get a player to spend upwards of $1,000 to visit campus with his family.

“Once kids visit (Denver), the place sells itself,” Tierney said. “There’s no nicer place getting out of a plane than Denver. And then with the school and the people and the excitement around the program and around lacrosse out here, it’s an easy sell once they get out here.

In addition to getting players out to visit, Tierney also must get teams out to play.

“Until we prove ourselves that we can be a great team, then that’s going to be a challenge,” Tierney said. “Once we do that, and I think we will, then we’ll be able to draw bigger opponents out here. And the reason is not because people are afraid to play out here or afraid to play Denver, they just don’t want to come out and play a game and spend all that money and play in altitude without the reward of it being against a great team.”

As for this season, Tierney believes “there’s certainly enough (talent) for us to be very good.” But he knows he needs to build depth.

“Our first 20, 22 guys are as talented as anybody else out there,” Tierney said. “But you’ve got to get through a long season, and I hope to develop some young guys.”

Tierney first wants to win a league title or two. But, like he did at Princeton, he’s setting his goals as high – too high, according to naysayers who believe winning a title 1,815 miles from the Atlantic Ocean is impossible. But Tierney doesn’t buy into that argument.

“If it doesn’t happen it’s because of the head coach, not because of the location of the school,” he said. “If you don’t shoot for the moon, you’ll never reach any stars.”