McKendree University Athletics

*Elected to the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) board as the D-II Men's Representative.

McKendree University tapped former NCAA Division I and Big Ten head coach Jimmy Tierney in 2015 to lead the launch of McKendree University’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs. Previously, Tierney served as the head coach for the women’s swimming and diving team at Northwestern University for the last 21 years.

At McKendree:

2024-25: The Bearcats continued their success as they sent 20 individuals to the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving National Championships, 13 men and 7 women. The men's swimming and diving team completed a 8-1 regular season record, narrowly placed second at the GLVC Championships, and third at the NCAA Division II Championships. At the GLVC Championships, the Bearcats set the school record for the most points scored with 1734.5, and second most points ever at an NCAA national championship with 349. The women placed third at the GLVC Championship and tied for 17th at the NCAA Division II National Championship. Tierney was named the GLVC swim and dive men’s coach of the year.  

2023-24: The Bearcats saw yet another successful season as they sent 19 individuals to the NCAA Division II Swim & Dive Championships, 12 men and 7 women. The men's swimming and diving team completed a 7-1 regular season record, placed second at the GLVC Championships, and fourth at the NCAA Division II Championships while the women placed third at the GLVC Championship and twentieth at the NCAA Division II Championships. The NCAA Championship saw a new NCAA DII record, one individual national title, and 13 top-ten finishers. 

2022-23: McKendree had their best season in program history as a program-high 22 Bearcats qualified for the NCAA Division II Swimming Championships, 11 men and 11 women. The men's swimming and diving team completed a 9-0 dual meet season with four wins over nationally-ranked teams, placed third at the GLVC Championships, and placed a program-best third at the NCAA Division II Championships while the women took 11th place, another program-best. The NCAA Championships saw five first-place performances, a new NCAA DII record, 15 school records, and 30 top-ten finishes for the Bearcats. Tierney was named the 2022-23 Men's Swimming Co-Coach of the Year by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) alongside the University of Indianapolis's head men's swimming coach, Brent Noble. 

2021-22: The Bearcats continued their success well into the 2021-22 season as the men's team was ranked fifth and the women's team received their best ranking at 14th in the second CSCAA poll in December 2021. At the GLVC Championships, the women's team finished fourth overall and earned four medals while the men's team claimed third with 13 overall medals. 15 Bearcats represented McKendree in the NCAA Championships across both teams where the men repeated as the fourth-place finisher and the women placed 19th overall. McKendree finished off the season with 12 First Team All-American Honors and 11 Honorable Mention All-Americans. Diver Regan Gubera became the women's program's first-ever two-time All-American. 

2020-21: The 2020-21 season saw a slew of accomplishments from Tierney and the Bearcats, including a Namibian national record by Xander Skinner, eight conference titles and records, qualifying 11 for the national championship, and Fabio Dalu setting two DII records and earning the DII Swimmer of the Year award. The Bearcats' showed their best performance at the NCAA National Championship as eight of the 11 qualifying swimmers were named All-Americans and the men's team placed fourth with only eight swimmers in the competition. 

2019-20: Tierney and the men's program climbed to a second-place finish in the GLVC while the women's team placed fifth. Sophomore Gregg Lichinsky was named GLVC Swimmer of the Year and freshman Fabio Dalu earned Freshman of the Year honors along with Tierney's second GLVC Coach of the Year honor. 12 Bearcats would qualify for the NCAA National Championships in March where Dalu secured McKendree's first ever National Champion title. While the men's team was on their way to an impressive finish nationally, the National Championship was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

2018-19: In year three for the program, the men's program posted an regular season record of 12-1 while the women tallied eight wins. The men's team finished top three and the women's team finished top four at the GLVC Championships while both captured the Jamaes R. Spalding Team Sportsmanship Award. The GLVC Championships alone saw 17 school records, four pool records, and four GLVC records from the Bearcats including an NCAA A cut time from sophomore Xander Skinner. Skinner led the charge for McKendree at the NCAA Division II Championships, repeating as a 7x All-American. In total, McKendree qualified 13 swimmers for the NCAA Championships and secured 15 All-American and 14 All-American Honorable Mention Awards as the men's team jumped to the top 10 with a performance good for eighth place. Tierney was named the recipient of the Swim Across America Service award in May of 2019 for his contributions to organizing the SAA's event in St. Louis. 

2017-18: The Bearcats took off in their second year of competition as the men's team posted nine wins and the women's team tallied eight wins for the season. Both programs were ranked in the CSCAA DII Top 25 teams with the men's team ranking 15th and the women's team ranking 23rd. Tierney was named the 2018 GLVC Women's Co-Coach of the Year as both the men's and women's teams placed fourth in the GLVC Championships, jumping up three and six places (respectively) from the previous year. For the NCAA Division II Championships, McKendree secured eight All-American and nine All-American Honorable Mention honors. In February of 2018, Tierney was featured in Swimming World Magazine in an article titled "How Jimmy Tierney Brought Swimming to McKendree University," highlighting the start of the McKendree swimming and diving programs. 

2016-17: In the inaugural year of McKendree's women's and men's swimming and diving programs, Tierney signed a total of 19 athletes for the season. The Bearcats earned their first program win on Nov. 4, 2016 against Bellarmine. In the postseason, six swimmers represented McKendree at the NCAA DII Championships where the men's team placed 25th overall, securing one All-American honor and eight All-American Honorable Mentions. Both the women's and men's programs received CSCAA Scholar All-American team honors as the women's program held a perfect 4.0 GPA for the spring semester and five individuals were honored with Scholar All-American accolades. 

Before McKendree:
Prior to leading the McKendree swimming and diving programs, Tierney began his time at Northwestern in 1988, as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams. In 1994, he was named head coach for the Wildcats’ women’s program. During his 21-year tenure as head coach, Tierney had a hand in coaching 74 individual NCAA All-America honorees, guided 26 Big Ten champions and 39 All Big Ten honorees.

Over those 21 seasons, Tierney led Northwestern to five different top-12 finishes and seven top-20 efforts at the NCAA Division I Championships. In dual meet competitions, the Wildcats posted a 126-94-1 record with Tierney at the helm. He was named the 2008 Big Ten Swimming Coach of the Year at the conclusion of the conference championships.
 
In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Tierney oversaw team fund raising through several initiatives at Northwestern. He was instrumental in founding and serving as head coach for the Northwestern Aquatic Swim Association in 1988. Tierney created age group and master’s programs at Northwestern, coached both programs and added staff to help run the day-to-day practices. He also started the Wildcat Swim Camp in 1988 and served as camp director from its inception. In this role, Tierney handled many duties including the management of daily operations (including budget, insurance and other aspects), established a camp website for registrations, and created and updated the camp’s handbook.
 
Tierney’s coaching experience is not limited to just the collegiate level. He has coached with USA Swimming for many years and has been part of several international competitions. He was the head women’s coach for the 2001 US Junior Team that competed in Rome. He was a women’s assistant coach for USA Swimming at the 1999 World University Games in Mallorca and the 2007 World University Games held in Bangkok. He has served six three-year terms on the board of directors for the American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA), and currently serves as the vice-president for the organization.
 
Tierney is no stranger to the southern Illinois region. He began his coaching career with a two-year stint as an assistant coach at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, where he completed work for his master’s degree in 1988. A native of Louisville, Ky., Tierney earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisville. 
 
Tierney has two children, Adam and Samantha. Adam, a 2017 DePauw University graduate, resides in New York City, where he works as a data analyst for Hall and Partners. Samantha, a 2019 St. Louis University graduate and in 2023 earned her Doctorate from John Hopkins University. A resident of  Chicago, Ill., where she is a nurse practitioner. Tierney became a first time grandfather during the 2024-25 season to his grandson Wyatt.