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A week after having her first child in April of 2017, Brianne Tierney was named head coach of the infant Kent State women’s lacrosse team.

“I was asked to come on campus for an interview, and I went into labor the day I was supposed to come on campus,” Tierney said. “We pushed off the interview a week, and Bodhi was a week old when I got the job and hit the ground running. I never really got my maternity leave.”

Bodhi, the son of Tierney and her husband, Cleveland State men’s lacrosse head coach Dylan Sheridan, is 15 months old, and the Golden Flashes are growing up too. Kent State will be an affiliate member of the Atlantic Sun Conference. Another Ohio team, Akron, will join the ASun for the 2020 season.

“The goal is always to compete and set the culture,” Tierney said. “If you’re teaching the right things and doing the little things the right way, the wins will come. But obviously we have to set some standards from a leadership and social and academic standpoint, which I found over the past couple weeks is hard with 26 freshmen. The first semester freshman year is tricky, and I had forgotten that. They’re going through their first midterms and taking all that on, and it’s a lot for freshmen, especially if they don’t have juniors and seniors ahead of them telling them it’s going to be OK.”

 

 

Fall practices are vital to introduce Kent State to the college game. Their roster consists of 23 freshmen and three sophomores – one who transferred and two walk-ons.

“With basically 26 freshmen, there’s a huge learning curve,” Tierney said. “We are in about week two of 20 hours. We’re starting to gain some ground and turn some corners with certain things and now we have an idea of what we have in terms of athleticism and positioning.”

Tierney is energized by her first Division I head coaching opportunity. When she and Sheridan moved to Cleveland, she worked for a small high-end furniture company, Rustbelt Reclamation, but never totally got away from lacrosse. She coached middle school girls and earned her officiating license, but wanted to get back into college coaching.

“It all worked out,” Tierney said. “When we came out here, it was to support Dylan and I’d find something. It all fell into place, along with the kiddo.”

Tierney has been through a start-up before. She took over the program at Division III Lebanon Valley College in 2009.

“I had to recruit on campus and for the most part didn’t have the time to recruit kids in that first year,” Tierney recalled. “Here, I was hired in April of 2017 and I had a full year to get a recruiting class in and get things settled and got in order before we compete this spring. The timeline is totally different. When you’re talking about Division I versus Division III, you’re limited in the fall in Division III to 16 days of practice. There’s a lot more time with these freshmen and it’s been a whole other level of things that we can do from a coaching standpoint.”

 

I’d be an idiot not to reach out to [my dad, Denver coach Bill Tierney]. [My husband] Dylan [Sheridan, Cleveland State men's head coach,] finally came and watched one of our practices on Sunday, and he said, ‘You run practices just like your dad.’ I don’t know how that happens or how to explain that.

 

 

Tierney won six games in her first year at Lebanon Valley when they were picked to finish last. She was the 2012 Commonwealth Conference Coach of the Year when she stepped down. She is ready for the challenges of another new program.

“There’s pros and cons to it,” Tierney said. “There’s cons to taking over a program that has a culture different from what you want. There’s pros and cons to starting a new program. I don’t know what’s harder. I think with having all new freshmen, what they don’t know is there’s another gear that they can shift into from a mental limits and physical limits standpoint. Certainly, learning the difference between pain and being sore and the grind of fall ball, they’re going through all these difficult things, but the enthusiasm, the energy, the speed they’re playing at are all good. They’re going a million miles an hour right now, and that’s awesome.”

Tierney has coached at the Division I level at Monmouth, California-Berkley and Lafayette on the women’s side, and she was director of lacrosse operations for the Denver men’s lacrosse program that is coached by her father, Bill Tierney.

“I call him every day,” Tierney said. “He’s obviously had every experience in the book, from being an assistant coach to winning national championships. I’d be an idiot not to reach out to him. Dylan finally came and watched one of our practices on Sunday, and he said, ‘You run practices just like your dad.’ I don’t know how that happens or how to explain that.”

 

 

Sheridan, too, has been a help. He started up the Cleveland State program three years ago when they moved to his hometown.

“By him coming home three years ago with situations that were happening then, we’d talk about it over dinner,” Tierney said. “Those situations are now happening to me. It’s reaching back into that bag of tricks that he has and his experiences, and also falling back on what I did at Lebanon Valley because we were able to achieve a certain amount of pretty good success even in that first year or two.”

Tierney has enjoyed success at every level. She played for the Loyola women when they reached the NCAA tournament semifinals, then won two Patriot League championships with Colgate. Now, she’s looking for success as a Division I head coach.

“That’s the dream,” she said. “You can ask a lot of these kids, and it’s their dream too to play at the highest level that they can. I think it’s the opportunity to compete against the best. Growing up around it, the experience of being at a university that supports high-level Division I athletics is really cool. I’m lucky to be at Kent State where they do that and we get everything we could possibly need to be a success.”

 

Fall Focus 
Atlantic Sun

Looking ahead to the 2019 season, the Atlantic Sun conference features two new teams — an inaugural squad for Kent State and a transfer team in Liberty, which comes from the Big South. Old Dominion departed the ASUN after the 2018 season for the Big East. Teams are listed in order of last year’s final standings.

Jacksonville
5-0 ASUN, 16-4 Overall

The Jacksonville Lacrosse Center will be completed this fall, a new home for the Dolphins who have been regular-season champs five of the last six years. The nation’s leading scoring offense graduated ASUN player of the year Ashtyn Hiron, but have another big-time scorer in sophomore Sarah Elms. They’re the favorites to win again.

Coastal Carolina
4-1 ASUN, 10-9 Overall

The Chanticleers have a great starting point with senior goalie Harley Barrett, last year’s defensive player of the year, and four other all-conference returning players, including leading scorer Haley Alexander. They will have Coastal Carolina in position to contend for the conference crown again.

Kennesaw State
3-2 ASUN, 7-11 Overall

It all starts with Siena Gore, the 2018 ASUN freshman of the year after debuting at sixth in the country in goals per game and setting ASUN records with 67 goals and 113 draw controls. Gore, her twin sister Marissa Gore, junior defender Maura Palandro and senior attacker Haley Swift make a strong backbone for the Owls, who are looking to build on their most successful season in program history.

Stetson
1-4 ASUN, 4-13 Overall

The Hatters graduated Hallie Merz, their all-time leader in points and assists, but sophomore Riley Reagan put up comparable stats last year and will be a bigger part of the attack that will be bolstered by freshmen Saige-Lyn Gidzinski and Hannah Mill.

Howard
0-5 ASUN, 1-12 Overall

The Bison will lean on sophomore midfielder Jillian Jones to replace their top scorer Natia Warren, who was also the program’s all-time draw control leader. Howard will need to generate more scoring and protect their new goalie better than they did the graduated Amerra Sheckles, who was fifth nationally in saves per game.

Liberty
6-1 Big South, 13-5 Overall

The Flames should make things more interesting at the top of the conference. They move in from the Big South conference after their best season in program history. Liberty led the nation in caused turnovers per game and was second in ground balls per game to aid its top-20 scoring defense.

Kent State
No 2017 Records

In their debut season, the Golden Flashes are looking to gain experience and grow up together. If they can win some games in the process, that will be a bonus for a roster of first-year players.