The University of Denver won its first NCAA Division I lacrosse title over the weekend, bringing the title west of the Mississippi for the first time since the tournament started in 1971.  I suspect coach Bill Tierney had more to do with the team’s success than I did.  Tierney earned my enmity and respect as coach of Princeton, where he turned that program into a national powerhouse in the 90s, winning 5 titles, a couple of them over Virginia in overtime.  Some are arguing that this win makes Tierney the greatest coach of all time, and certainly there’s a strong case to be made.

In some sense, Colorado was just waiting for a Bill Tierney to come out here and do this. The state is one of the few west of the Mississippi where lacrosse is popular, and both CU and CSU have done well in the club championships in past years.  CSU has won the club title 6 times, twice over Colorado, who also won in 2014 before losing in this year’s finals, so there’s a talent base out here.  Still, only seven of the team’s 45 players are from Colorado; Tierney’s also been able to recruit from all over the country.

This year, Tierney beat both Big 10 and ACC schools – Notre Dame and Maryland – on Championship Weekend.  Those of us over a certain age can’t quite get used to the fact that Maryland was the Big 10 school, and Notre Dame from the ACC.

In some sense, this could only have happened in a time of an expanded tournament.  Gone are the days when an 8-team tournament was dominated by Virginia, Maryland, Cornell, Carolina, Hopkins, and Syracuse (and later Princeton).  The sport has a much broader base, with Duke, Notre Dame, and Loyola having made appearances or won titles in recent years.  In some sense, that’s Tierney’s doing, too, since he broke Princeton into the top tier at a time when the ACC habitually held down three of eight tournament slots, and winning the Ivy League was his only realistic route to the Championship.

Tierney has built a serious program out here, and is likely to win more titles before he’s done.