Bill Tierney

William G. Tierney (born September 26, 1952) is an American lacrosse coach who is the Head Coach for the Philadelphia Waterdogs. Previously, he led the men's lacrosse team at the University of Denver. Tierney is the first college lacrosse coach to win an NCAA DI Championship west of the Eastern Time Zone. He coached seven NCAA DI championship teams, including six at Princeton University and one at the University of Denver. Tierney's teams have had a combined winning percentage of .743.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest lacrosse coaches of all time.

Tierney joined the Philadelphia Waterdogs on March 28th, 2024

Player A native of Levittown, New York, Tierney played collegiate lacrosse at Cortland State where he was also a member of the Delta Kappa Beta fraternity. In 1973, he played on the USILA national championship team. This was the small college, non Division I national tournament, prior to the splitting of Division I, II and III national tournaments. In 1992, Tierney was awarded USILA Coach of the Year honors.

Internationally, Tierney coached Team USA to a Gold Medal with a 15-14 OT win over Canada in the 1998 World Lacrosse Championships

In 1998 and 2001, Tierney and his sons Trevor (a goaltender) and Brendan (midfield/attack), became the first father-sons combination to win an NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship together. His daughter Brianne Tierney, a former player at Loyola of Maryland and Colgate, is currently the women's head coach at Kent State, which will begin varsity play in the 2019 season; her husband Dylan Sheridan is the assistant coach at Ohio State and was the men's head coach at Cleveland State.

Tierney began coaching the men's lacrosse team at the University of Denver on July 1, 2009. IFS Coach Tierney called the change a "wonderful opportunity to start this new chapter in my life."

On May 25, 2015, Tierney led Denver to the team's first national championship. They beat Maryland by a score of 10-5. Denver was the 10th different school to raise the trophy and the first team west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Tierney joined the Waterdogs on March 28th, 2024 as their Head Coach

Head coaching record

University of Denver

Princeton University

Rochester Institute