With an impressive record of 8-2 for the Shaw Eagle Football team and a district title, it’s easy to see the difference that Coach Hank Tierney and his coaching staff have made for the program. The return of the beloved coach, however, means more than just a winning season: it’s a homecoming for a figure who had long been separated from the place he believes he truly belongs.

Coach Tierney came to Shaw as an assistant coach in 1978 under Head Coach Joe Zimmerman. In 1983, Coach Tierney became Head Coach and led the Eagles to legendary heights. Out of 19 seasons as head coach, the team made it to the playoffs 18 times. After some reflection and hoping to bring his talents to other up-and-coming programs, Coach took his leave from Shaw in 2002.

Coach Tierney would cement his talents as a coach over the next twenty years where he led successful programs and  won a number of championships at public schools. Despite the successes and recognition, Coach Tierney found himself conflicted: he didn’t have the same impact on the student’s lives as he had when at Shaw. At the end of the day, he was just the football coach. The relationship between coach and athlete ended when cleats stepped off the field.

Central to Archbishop Shaw’s identity as a Catholic and Salesian school is the Preventive system of Saint John Bosco. Don Bosco famously devoted his life toward helping the young, especially young men who were often homeless or orphans. In his system, he emphasized three characteristics of a Salesian school: reason, religion, and loving kindness.

This spiritual ethic had deeply impacted Tierney as a young coach and would continue to shape his character and spirituality. When Coach received the invitation to return to Shaw, his goal was simple: to bring this philosophy in a deeper way to the field. Despite the desire to win and to compete well, the hope is not to just make better football players, but better people.

At Shaw, however, the same disciplines preached on  the field are found in the classroom. A student is not just an athlete or a scholar: he is a unique creation of God, destined for holiness off and on the field.

By combining the values gained from his many years as a coach with the full support of the school, Coach Tierney envisions football as an extension of the student’s growth and formation. He upholds a high standard for his players: watching one’s tongue in the locker room and the field, reprimanding unsportsmanlike behavior, benching anyone who received a detention notice. These are all important aspects of a team that can go neglected, but because of this strict adherence to honorable, upright play, “developing the work ethic of the team has been easy” says Coach Tierney. He points to many examples in the past where a “star” player was benched for breaking these fundamentals while fully acknowledging the consequences that would bring to the team. The message was simple: talented players don’t win games: teams do, and when one person hurts himself by his actions, it hurts his brothers, as well.

One of the biggest questions Coach has received from the moment he appeared under a banner emblazoned with “Welcome Home Coach” was “why”; why return to Archbishop Shaw after all these years? By his own admission, he had fully planned to retire, having had his 300th win and sitting comfortably as an accomplished coach. However, he couldn’t help but notice that the very place where he had gotten his start as a young coach and learned so many valuable lessons was, itself, in need of a restart. Despite declining enrollment and a malaise that seemed to define the school for years, faces both new and old resolved to start a new chapter in her history. Coach recognized his opportunity to become part of that story one last time.

Coach Tierney’s return is more than just another chance at coaching football: it’s a mission to keep the spirit of Don Bosco alive in Marrero. His program understands that football is more than plays, games, and victories: it is a vehicle of growth for Shaw and of formation for her men, giving back to more than just the school, but the Salesians and the Westbank as a whole, as this was the place that made him the man he is today.