Princeton coach Tierny wins 100th over Lions

When Bill Tierney became the Princeton lacrosse coach in 1988, he took the reigns of a program mired in mediocrity. Now, nearly a decade later, Tierney is considered one of the best coaches in the history of the sport.

With Saturday's 18-6 win against Penn State, Tierney reached another coaching plateau. The win was his 100th at the Tiger helm, but it's just another line on an already gaudy coaching résumé.

"That's great," attacker Jesse Hubbard said of his coach's milestone, "but I'm sure if you ask him about it, he would say it's just another win and it doesn't matter. Doing it in such a short period of time, though, says a lot. He's a phenomenal coach, obviously."

For Tierney, and the entire Princeton team, it's not so much the number of wins, but what those wins have wrought. Following an abysmal 2-13 record in his first season, the coach guided his team to a much-improved 6-8 record in 1989.

That was the last time the Tigers had a losing record, and it was also the last time Princeton didn't qualify for the NCAA tournament.

In 1990 the Tigers advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals and finished 11-5. Two years later, Tierney guided his charges to Princeton's first Ivy League championship since 1967 and its first-ever NCAA championship. Tierney also was named the 1992 Division I Coach of the Year.

Since then, there have been three additional Ivy League titles and two more NCAA trophies added to the Princeton trophy case and the Tierney list of accomplishments.

Saturday's accomplishment was just another.

"Whenever you reach a milestone like that you go back to the kids," Tierney said. "For the guys who are with us right now, this win means as much as the first win."

The players who are on the team now, though, said their coach is a huge part of the program's success.

"He does his coaching during the week," Hubbard said. "It's preparing us for each team. It's coming up with different schemes on defense and offense. Basically, we're ready for almost anything. He's a preparer, and that's why he is so good."

Saturday, Tierney prepared his team for a Penn State squad that obviously was trying to slow the pace of the game. Instead of playing within the Nittany Lion framework, the Tigers took some chances on the defensive end and put the game out of reach by halftime.

Now, at 4-0, Princeton looks primed for a run at another NCAA championship -- which would be its second in a row.

"We were 3-0 last year, 4-0 this year," Tierney said, "but interestingly enough, we were a lot more focused last year as to what we needed to do."

The focus, no doubt, will come as "the preparer" works his magic yet again.