"It's going to take what has become the hotbed of lacrosse in the past 10 years and just catapult it forward," Michael Johnson, the president of the Colorado Lacrosse Foundation said. "He's going to have people coming out here for camps, and teams coming out here to play DU. The guy's been such a strong part of the development of lacrosse on the East Coast for years, even through things like information videos, and now he's right at our back door."

University of Denver vice chancellor Peg Bradley-Doppes led the way onto the deck outside her fourth-floor office in the Ritchie Center. She showed off her view of the Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, the 2,000-seat gem with fence banners for financial firms that advertise the sport’s traditional connection to affluence.

Behind it, construction continued on a soccer stadium that will include a new weight room for the athletic department. The sounds of men and heavy equipment at work were audible.

There was something else in the air, too.

A buzz.

As DU upgrades what already were considered showcase facilities, the hiring of lacrosse coach Bill Tierney, whose Princeton teams won six NCAA championships, sent shock waves through the sport’s passionate and expanding following.

“What we’re trying to do is reach out and connect with the community that wants to build lacrosse,” Bradley-Doppes said. “If we don’t enhance the university mission and enhance the spreading of the mission, then we’re not doing our job. A good lacrosse program can do both of those, and I think at a very high level.”

Tierney’s enthusiasm crackled through the phone line Tuesday.

“There’s something in coaching that allows you to develop a balance between the X’s and O’s and the young men you’re dealing with, and everybody in between — the families, the administrators, the professors,” said Tierney, 57.

“I think I have a pretty good balance on all of that. I’m pretty intense. . . . I know how to be fair with people. I know how to be tough on them and I know how to put my arm around them when I need that. As I said to the (DU players) in the note I wrote, it’s going to be communication and consistency and I think those are two pretty good traits to have.”

When beginning its search for a successor to Jamie Munro, DU contacted Tierney and other top coaches to see if they had any suggested candidates. Bradley-Doppes said she interviewed four finalists and was impressed with all, but was uneasy.

“I picked up the phone and I called Bill,” she said. “I said: ‘This is an incredible opportunity and I think you might be intrigued because you’ve dedicated your life to this sport. The way I see it, this is the only institution in the country where you can have a positive national effect on growing your sport.’ “

Bradley-Doppes insists she hadn’t gotten any indirect indications Tierney might be interested. But she knew that his son Trevor briefly had been a DU assistant and currently is an assistant for the Denver Outlaws of Major League Lacrosse. In part because Tierney and his wife, Helen, were planning on moving to Colorado in retirement, Bill agreed to listen. Bradley-Doppes said the agreement was that Bill would visit and — if nothing else — give his thoughts about the program and the four finalists.

“I knew what he was making, and we probably couldn’t come close to that,” Bradley-Doppes said. “But I knew that he could certainly make up the difference out here in camps and clinics.”

The DU contingent took him to the Broncos’ Dove Valley offices to meet with owner Pat Bowlen.

“He (Bowlen) told me about his love and support for the University of Denver, and the fact that his sons went there,” Tierney said. “He told me how much he has liked being affiliated with the lacrosse world, with the Outlaws. I’m an old football guy, and I was just thrilled to be in his company and to look out the window at the practice fields.”

After thinking about it over a weekend, Tierney said yes. He said he had received other offers during his Princeton stay.

“I certainly wasn’t looking then and I wasn’t looking now and the difference was that as crazy as it sounds, this one just felt right,” he said.

He also hired Trevor as his assistant.

“It was the cherry on top of the sundae,” Tierney said. “But we didn’t do it for that.”

http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_12604868