Denver in 2011 reminds Tierney of Princeton in 1992
As the architect of six national championships at Princeton, Bill Tierney cherishes the memories of those titles and the teams that toiled away to register those achievements.
But Tierney, who left the Tigers for Denver after the 2009 season, acknowledged that he can make a comparison between his current Pioneers squad and the Princeton team that edged Syracuse, 10-9, in double overtime to capture the NCAA title in 1992.
“Not to jinx the guys, but they remind me so much of ’92 because I always used to tell people that in ’92, we were cute,” Tierney recalled after sixth-seeded Denver had bounced third-seeded Johns Hopkins by five goals in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals on Saturday. “We were kind of everybody’s favorite because they knew it was going to be one shot and then we’d be out of there. Our idea is that this could be the beginning of a program, and these guys have bought into everything that we’ve given them in the past two seasons. They’ve not doubted. They’ve believed and they’ve used their skills, which was varied and many, to win games like this.”
That Tigers squad completed a 13-2 campaign. Tierney’s current Denver team is 15-2 and riding Division I’s longest active winning streak (12 straight games).
But Tierney said he doesn’t want to the Pioneers to try to mirror his Princeton squad.
“This group of young men deserves to have their own history,” Tierney said. “They don’t need to be tied to Princeton or me. They need to be tied to Denver because that’s who they are.”
Comments
Tierney's '92 team was also matched up against a Carolina team making its fourth straight semifinal appearance ; Denver's opponent on Saturday, Virginia, is making its fourth straight semifinal appearance.
Tierney is 3-0 against Starisa in the playoffs too.
Posted by: crabbylax | May 24, 2011 11:41 AM
i've never really seen how a coach, himself, can really win a game until the Hopkins game. Usually it's a trick play or gutsy call that does it, but it was just pure Tierney in all his coaching knowledge and strategy. Wasn't so much impressed by the Denver players per say, but they followed through with coaches orders and it'll be another coaching battle on saturday.
Posted by: old-line old-bay | May 24, 2011 1:12 PM