The man they call JoJo War Drummer pounded with purpose upon his rotund drum, and the pep band’s crimson just looked a little crisper, and little boys clasping big lacrosse sticks and cooing college coeds and VIPs in blazers and ball caps all clapped. I’ll admit, I’ve seen a lot of stuff in sports, and even my body tingled Tuesday as the University of Denver men’s lacrosse players paraded past 2,100 fans in Hamilton Gymnasium, hoisting the national championship trophy, a world away from the East Coast and its hoit and its toit.
It was a celebration — a culmination, really — for a Western program that transformed college lacrosse Monday, after reaching the Final Four in each of the previous three seasons.
But amid the moment, I caught myself in thought — same place, same time, next year?
The day-after-Memorial-Day party could became an annual event for coach Bill Tierney’s boys. They lose six seniors, not a huge crop, though it includes the goalie, Ryan LaPlante, and the star, Wesley Berg. The Pioneers probably will enter next season like it began this season and ended this season — No. 1 in the nation. This isn’t some Cinderella story.
“You win a national championship and it starts to snowball,” said the accomplished assistant Trevor Tierney, the coach’s son, who as a player won two titles for his pops at Princeton. “With the coaching staff, there’s no reason why this can’t keep going. They have plenty of talent in the cupboard here, they have a lot of great kids coming, but it’s not easy, either. They’ll stay focused, they’ll keep it going and I’m sure there will be a lot of good memories here at Denver.
“Experiencing a national championship, it feeds your desire to win another one. I won one as a freshman and all I could think about the next three years was getting back there. It starts to become like a tradition, you don’t want to let down the older alumni, and that’s what I want to see happen.”
But Tuesday was one more chance to cherish. The ’15 team. The first champs. It’s funny, as they walked into the gym, I realized — I didn’t recognize any of these guys. I only knew a few of their names. But it wasn’t about individuals — even the stars weren’t stars at this moment. Instead, to use an old George Karl word, it is the bigness of the “teamness.” Together, they were the star.
It was just so fun over there at DU.
Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia succinctly summed it up, shouting into the microphone: “This is a big deal!” Mayor Michael Hancock joked that “we just hired coach Tierney for the Colorado Rockies.” And Bill Tierney himself, winner of a record seven national lacrosse titles, shared a story with the audience about the class of his team: “We got off the plane in Philadelphia and a flight attendant got on and said he’d been flying 25 years — pro teams, college teams — and this was the finest group of young men he’d been around.”
It was also a time to say goodbye.
Berg scored five goals in the title game, the same amount as Maryland in DU’s 10-5 win Monday, but as he signed autographs for wide-eyed young fans, the reality was as such: They’ll never see him play for DU again. And worse: maybe they’d already missed their chance to see him play. And LaPlante, the fearless Fort Collins native in goal, has received his final welt.
Speaking of his protégé, Trevor Tierney became choked up.
“It’s not only been four years, I started working with him when he was 13 (in youth lacrosse),” Tierney said. “His family is like a second family to me — and he’s like a little brother. It makes me emotional — when I see him get a chance to win a national championship, for him to get to do that, it brings so much pride for me. … There were times when he doubted himself, but this year he just grew up and made it happen.”
But with so many prominent Pios returning next season, man, it’s easy to envision deja vu — the Final Four is again in Philadelphia, and here’s hoping JoJo can get off work the Tuesday after.
“We have all the confidence in the world right now,” DU defenseman Christian Burgdorf said. “We’re so comfortable with (each other).”
Benjamin Hochman: bhochman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/hochman
