Q&A: Bill, Trevor and Brendan Tierney — Men's lacrosse

Bill Tierney is the head coach of the men's lacrosse team and the father of junior goalie Trevor Tierney and sophomore attack Brendan Tierney. All three recently sat down with Senior Writer Alex Iliff.

Prince: One thing that you might have to deal with a lot is the fact that lacrosse is sort of a regional sport. What can the three of you say either in defense or in giving ideas on how to make it spread?

Bill: Well, it's spreading. Right now, there are pockets in different places. So the fingers are kind of touching, but it's growing on the local level, on the high school level and on the Division III level. Where it's not growing right now is in Division I men's lacrosse, which is partly due to economic and Title IX reasons. Just the pure numbers that you have to account for in men's or women's sports don't allow for the growth, right now, in Division I lacrosse.

Trevor: I was out in Colorado this summer — I went to a camp — and I was really impressed with how good the players are out there. Going out there, I didn't know what to expect and I thought it would be a level below where it is on the East Coast, but they've caught up quick to where we are.

Brendan: I think the big difference is when they start. When [Bill] was coaching Hopkins, we used to live in Maryland and I was playing in first grade, and we moved here, and there really wasn't anything organized until fifth or sixth grade, so when you start makes a big difference in the quality of lacrosse and how many players there are.

Bill: A lot of those places regenerate themselves, because good players become fathers who become coaches of good players themselves.

P: [to Bill] So on that note, you're a player who became a father who became a coach — so were you two [Trevor and Brendan] like the Williams sisters growing up? When you were three, was a lacrosse stick sewn in your hands?

T: As soon as we could walk, we saw who he was working with, the older guys, watching those teams he coached, we wanted to play. He never forced sticks into our hands.

P: [to Brendan] The same?

Brendan: As far as I can remember.

T: I don't even remember the first time I had a lacrosse stick in my hands.

Bill: I got a picture of it — 6 days after birth. It's like a lot of guys, you see a picture of the baby with a baseball glove, football, you know.

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P: [to Trevor and Brendan] You also have two sisters that play lacrosse. Do you just spontaneously break out into lacrosse games when you get home?

T: Actually Courtney has decided she's no longer playing lacrosse, she's purely basketball now. But Brianne always wants to play. I think usually when me and Brendan go home, we've had about enough of lacrosse.

Bill: That's the last thing you do.

P: Well, my roommate mentioned this. How did the coach's son wind up being the goalie? He was talking about how when he played soccer, they'd always just kind of shove the one guy that couldn't run fast back into the goal.

T: I don't know, I think I was a little retarded as a kid. I don't know why I like getting hit with the ball, but I started when I was like six, for some reason I never came out.

P: Genuinely, you like getting hit?

T: I always played a half of midfield, a half of goal, but I always knew that goalie was my main position . . .

Bill: If you had to do it all over again . . .

T: If I had to do it all over again I might not, yeah, but it's gone well. I think it's the best position on the field. I love it.

P: [To Brendan] How about you, you just attack just because . . .

Brendan: Yeah, I don't know.

T: Because he got to shoot on me.

P: If he wants to get hit by the ball, somebody's going to have to hit him.

Bill: That's right.

P: So, how is it in practice, then? Is there a time when you can tell that you're the coach's son, or is it totally separated?

Brendan: I don't think so. We get treated the same as any other player. I don't think there's really any difference. Once we're on the field, it's not really a family thing, it's just playing.

P: Do you call him "coach" or do you call him "Dad"?

T: Oh no, we call him "coach."

Bill: They call me some of the names that the other players call me — neither "coach" nor "Dad".

P: Do you guys remember when Princeton won its first title [over Syracuse in 1992]?

Brendan: We were actually on the field, we were ball boys for that game.

T: We were going nuts. It was unbelievable. I was taunting the fans. Being out there on the field when they scored – it was crazy.

Bill: We have a lot of pictures, in fact. I said to the boys going into the game, "If it's one of our guys, throw them the ball quick, if it's one of their guys, throw it over their head or something." We get into overtime and Trevor's throwing the ball past Syracuse guys and we try to hang in there. They've been on the field for all the championship games. You know, it's pretty special.