Legendary lacrosse coach Bill Tierney emerges from retirement to take over Philadelphia Waterdogs

Bill Tierney is used to winning in Philadelphia.

The fourth-winningest men’s lacrosse coach in NCAA history spent his career vexing Philadelphia-area universities. Tierney won his first of seven NCAA championships at Penn’s Franklin Field in 1992, leading Princeton past Syracuse. Over his 22 seasons at the helm of the Tigers, they beat Penn 20 times in a row.

Even when Tierney left to become head coach at Denver in 2009, local teams still weren’t safe. Denver joined the Big East for men’s lacrosse in 2013, meaning regular matchups between Villanova and Tierney’s Pioneers. And in 16 meetings across 14 seasons, Tierney lost to Villanova only twice. He won his last NCAA championship at Lincoln Financial Field in 2015.

But now, for the first time, Tierney is hoping to win for Philadelphia. On March 28, Tierney was hired as the head coach and general manager of the Philadelphia Waterdogs, a professional team in the Premier Lacrosse League.

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“I’m not a real favorite of the Villanova Philadelphia fans,” Tierney said. “But we’ll work our hardest to change that. If you were to say to me, ‘What city do you want to be in?’ — that would have been the one.”

Tierney, who is from Levittown, N.Y., retired in 2023 after 42 years as a Division I coach. But he didn’t stray far from the game. In between working on his memoir, Tierney appeared on ESPN’s PLL telecasts and stayed involved with USA Lacrosse.

When the opportunity with the Waterdogs arose, Tierney said part of the allure was the PLL’s development over the last few years. The outdoor lacrosse league was formed in 2018, with the Waterdogs joining in 2020 as the first expansion team.

The 2024 season will mark the first year that PLL teams will be affiliated with home cities. However, the league still operates on a touring model, visiting a different host site each weekend. The Waterdogs’ homecoming is slated for June 15-16, when they will play two games at Tierney’s old haunt, Villanova Stadium.

“Philly fans are honest,” Tierney said. “Where I grew up and what my experience in life is, it’s to be honest, and if you’re not doing well, you deserve to hear it. And if you are doing well, there’s nobody who will jump in front of a truck more for you than the Philly fans.”

From years of coaching in, scouting in, and, yes, winning in the Philadelphia area, Tierney knows firsthand the strength of the sport and caliber of lacrosse players in the region. That all starts with youth and high school programs, and he said that PLL teams will continue to engage with their local communities to help develop that grassroots lacrosse interest.

“Pro lacrosse players are the most accessible pro athletes [of] any sport out there,” Tierney said.

Though the Waterdogs won’t be in Philly for all 14 weeks of the season, their affiliation with the city is an important step in the evolution of the league. There are also several local faces on the team, including star attackman Michael Sowers out of Upper Dublin High, who Tierney thinks will be easy for fans to get behind.

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One would think that Tierney has seen it all after seven years coaching in high school and those 42 years in college. But entering the professional lacrosse world is still a brand-new adventure. Though he has worked with world-class talent before, coaching Team USA to a gold medal in 1998 at the World Lacrosse Championships, he has never had to deal with drafts or salary caps.

Another new thing? Inheriting a winning program.

Tierney helped bring both Princeton and Denver to national prominence from the ground up. But even in their short history, the Waterdogs have already built a winning culture.

Tierney takes over from Andy Copeland, who stepped down in March after four seasons that featured two trips to the PLL championship game and a title win in 2022. The Waterdogs are fresh off a second-place finish at the PLL’s winter lacrosse tournament, the Championship Series, in February.

“Fifty years of coaching, it’s the scariest thing I’ve ever done,” Tierney said. “For lack of a better way, maybe a good Philadelphia way of saying it, I just hope I don’t screw up.”

It does help that he’s not that far removed from the college game and that he has two of his former Denver players with him on the Waterdogs in Jack Hannah and Ethan Walker.

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The 2024 PLL draft is slated for May 7. The season begins June 1 in Albany, N.Y.

For the last two years, the PLL championship game has been held at Chester’s Subaru Park, and it’s set to make its return there in September. If things go according to plan, it could be another winning Philadelphia venue Tierney can add to his list.