Seth Tierney
Head Coach

Seth Tierney became the fifth head coach in the history of the Hofstra Men's Lacrosse program when he was hired to the position in August 2006. Entering his sixth season in 2012, Tierney has led the Pride to 49 victories, the 2008 Colonial Athletic Association championship, the 2009 and 2011 CAA regular season titles and berths in four consecutive NCAA Championships from 2008 through 2011.

Tierney served as an assistant coach at Hofstra from 1995 through 2000 before leaving for a similar position at his alma mater Johns Hopkins University. During his six-year tenure with the Pride, Hofstra recorded six consecutive winning seasons with a combined overall record of 61-28 and a conference mark of 29-2, captured five league titles, received five top 15 final national rankings, and played in four NCAA Championship tournaments. Tierney also coached seven All-Americans and nearly two-dozen all-conference players during his first tenure at Hofstra. Among them was midfielder Doug Shanahan, who would receive the inaugural Tewaaraton Trophy as College Lacrosse Player of the Year, the Lt. Ray Enners Award as the Division I Player of the Year, and the Lt. Donald McLaughlin Award as the Division I Midfielder of the Year in 2001. "During our search, we had the privilege of meeting many outstanding candidates including several former Pride assistants," Hofstra Director of Athletics Jack Hayes said. "Although all of them had exceptional and unique plans for Hofstra Lacrosse, Seth Tierney's presentation displayed the enthusiasm, intensity and passion that we were looking for. We are committed to assisting him move the program into the elite level of college lacrosse."

Last season, the Pride enjoyed great success, both on the field and in the classroom. Hofstra recorded a 13-3 record, captured the CAA regular season title and earned its school record-breaking fourth consecutive bid to the NCAA Championship. In addition, the Pride had four players, Jay Card, Mike Skudin, Andrew Gvozden and John Antoniades, earn USILA All-America honors. Card, Skudin, Antoniades, Ian Braddish and Adam Mojica were named to the All-CAA first team while Gvozden, Steven DeNapoli and Jamie Lincoln were voted to the second team. Skudin, who was selected the CAA Defensive Player of the Year, also earned USILA Scholar All-American and CAA Men's Lacrosse Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors. To close out the year, Skudin, DeNapoli and Card were named to the North-South Senior All-Star Game with DeNapoli leading all goal scorers in the contest with three.

In 2010, the Pride made its third consecutive trip to the NCAA Championship and finished the year with a 9-5 record. Hofstra had two players named to the USILA All-America team, five named to the All-CAA team and two more named to the CAA All-Rookie Team. In 2009, Tierney directed the Pride to an 11-4 overall, a 6-0 mark during the CAA regular season and his second NCAA Championship bid. Five Hofstra players were named to the All-CAA Teams, including first team selection Jay Card, who was voted the CAA Player of the Year. In addition, four Pride players were named to the USILA All-America team and one was voted to the USILA Scholar-Athlete All-America Team. For his efforts, Tierney was named the CAA co-Coach of the Year. The 2008 season saw Hofstra make a return to the NCAA Tournament after a one-year hiatus. The team posted a 10-6 record and won the CAA title in a thrilling overtime win over Drexel. Leading scorer Anthony Muscarella was named an honorable mention All-American, while Kevin Unterstein was the CAA Defensive Player of the Year and Jay Card earned CAA Rookie of the Year accolades. In addition, seven players received All-CAA honors and the Unterstein brothers, Kevin and Michael, were named North-South Game All-Stars and were both selected in the Major League Lacrosse Draft.   In his first year at the helm of the Hofstra program, Tierney took over a team that returned one starter from 2006's NCAA Quarterfinal squad and led them to a 6-8 record that saw seven losses decided by one goal. The team qualified for the CAA Championship, saw one of its star players - Kevin Unterstein - earn honorable mention All-America honors and had seven players named to All-CAA teams, including three All-Rookie selections. Tierney returned to Hofstra after a six-year tenure at John Hopkins, with the final two seasons as associate head coach. As the Blue Jays offensive coordinator, he was the architect of one of the most potent and explosive offenses in the nation in recent years. Tierney directed the Blue Jays attack that finished second in the nation in scoring margin, sixth in scoring offense and 16th in man-up offense during Hopkins' NCAA title run in 2005. The Blue Jays led the nation in scoring offense and man-up offense in 2003 and finished fifth in both categories in 2004. In Tierney's final season at Hopkins the Blue Jays posted a 9-5 record, advanced to the NCAA Championship quarterfinals, and ranked in the top 15 in the country in four statistical categories. With an emphasis on a balanced attack that puts pressure on the opposition at every position, individual awards have been plentiful at Hopkins. A total of 21 Blue Jay midfielders and attackmen earned All-America honors during Tierney's tenure in Homewood. Among them was Kyle Harrison, a two-time first team All-America, who received the Tewaaraton Trophy and the Lt. Enners Award in 2005 and the McLaughlin Award in 2004 and 2005.

Tierney played for the Blue Jays from 1988 through 1991 and served as team captain as a senior.  He helped lead Hopkins to the NCAA Tournament in each of his four seasons, including an appearance in the 1989 NCAA title game. He received Hopkins' Turnbull-Reynolds Award as a senior as the player most exemplifying leadership and sportsmanship. Tierney was also selected to play in the North-South game as a senior.

After graduating from Johns Hopkins, Tierney continued his playing career by playing three seasons of indoor lacrosse for the New York Saints before serving as an assistant coach for the Saints for two seasons.

Tierney and his wife, Maureen, have two children - a son, Ryan (13), and a daughter, Erin (11). The Tierney family resides in Massapequa, New York.

J.P. Brazel
Assistant Coach

Hofstra alumnus J.P. Brazel is in his first season on the Pride coaching staff in 2011-12.

A former goalie at Hofstra during the 2001 and 2002 seasons, Brazel returns to Hofstra after serving as an assistant coach under head coach Bob Shillinglaw at Colonial Athletic Association-foe Delaware during the 2010-11 academic year. While with the Blue Hens, he served as an offensive assistant coach, and coached the Delaware goalies as well as the team's attack unit. He coached four All-CAA players and one USILA All-America selection as the Blue Hens won the CAA Championship and advanced to the NCAA Championship Tournament..

Prior to coaching at Delaware, Brazel spent three seasons (2007-10) at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. While at Sacred Heart, Brazel's duties included coaching goaltenders, coordinating the team's defense and man-down unit, recruiting, monitoring academic progress and assisting head coach Tom Mariano with all other day-to-day lacrosse operations. During his tenure at Sacred Heart, Brazel coached three All-Colonial Athletic Association defenders in addition to coaching the programs goaltenders to top 15 national rankings in save percentage and top two national rankings in saves per game in 2009 and 2010.

Brazel began his Division I coaching career during the 2006-07 year at Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York. He served as offensive coordinator and goalie coach at Manhattan under Head Lacrosse Coach Tim McIntee. Under his assistance, the Jaspers made a jump of more than three goals per game during the 2007 season.

Brazel began his college coaching career as an assistant coach under Rich Speckmann from 2003 to 2006 at Nassau Community College. While at Nassau, Brazel guided the development of the team's goaltenders and defensive units as well as working with the team's face-off specialists. He helped lead the school to the NJCAA semifinals and regional championship in both 2003 and 2004. During his tenure at Nassau, Brazel coached seven NJCAA All-American defenders as well as a two-time All-American goalie.

Nassau was also the start of Brazel's college academic and athletic career. In 1999, Brazel earned National Junior College Athletic Association All-American and NJCAA Goalie of the Year while helping the Lions to NJCAA national title. As a freshman in 1998, he was a member of Nassau's NJCAA semifinal team.

Brazel then moved on to Hofstra and was part of the Pride's NCAA Tournament appearances in 2000 and 2001and was a member of the second highest ranked team in Hofstra history in 2002.

Brazel holds a degree in psychology from Hofstra University and has presented at both the U.S. Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association and Connecticut High School Coaches conventions during the last two years.

Brazel resides in East Meadow, New York with his wife, Jenna.

Sean Smith
Assistant Coach

Sean Smith is entering his 14th season on the Hofstra Lacrosse coaching staff in 2012. Smith, who came to Hofstra from Division Avenue High School in Levittown, New York, served on John Danowski's coaching staff from 1998 through 2006 and returned to Seth Tierney's staff for the 2008 season.

During his Hofstra coaching career, Smith helped develop 2001 Tewaaraton Trophy recipient Doug Shanahan, who also won National Player of the Year and National Midfielder of the Year accolades as well. He has also coached 53 all-conference players, seven conference players and rookies of the year, 25 All-Americans and 25 North-South All-Stars. Two of those all-stars, Doug Shanahan and Brett Moyer, went on to win MVP honors at the North-South All-Star Game. In 2006 Smith directed Tewaaraton Trophy finalist Chris Unterstein and helped the Pride to a berth in the NCAA Quarterfinals. In is 13 years with the program Smith has also seen eight players go on to earn USILA Scholar All-America honors.

Smith began his coaching career in 1985 when he served as an assistant coach at Ohio Wesleyan University. While at Ohio Wesleyan, Smith also served as a physical education instructor, intramural director and ticket manager. In 1987 he joined the lacrosse staff at Army as an assistant and coached the Cadets from 1987 through 1990. Smith also served as a physical education instructor while at Army. He served as the varsity head lacrosse coach and the junior varsity head football coach at Division Avenue from 1990 to 1997. In addition to his Hofstra coaching duties, Smith is currently a teacher and assistant football coach in the Levittown School District.

As a player at Roanoke College, Smith was named to the USILA Division III All-American team in 1982 and 1983. He tallied 50 goals in 1981 and 51 in 1982. Smith concluded his college career as Roanoke's career leader and is currently second with 145 goals. He also ranks seventh in career scoring with 208 points and in the top 15 in career assists with 63. In 1996 Smith was inducted into the Roanoke College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Smith holds a bachelor's degree in physical education from Roanoke College, a master's degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a postgraduate degree in educational administration from Hofstra. Smith and his wife, Carol, have three children - J.P. (19), Brendan (18) and Conor (14). The Smith family resides in West Islip, New York.

Kevin Unterstein
Assistant Coach

Kevin Unterstein, who served as an assistant coach under Bill Tierney at both Princeton in 2009 and Denver in 2010, is entering his second season on the Hofstra Pride men's lacrosse staff in 2012.

A 2008 graduate of Hofstra with a degree in sociology, Unterstein enjoyed a stellar playing career as a short-stick defensive middie from 2005 through 2008. As a senior he recorded a team-leading 70 ground balls while helping to guide the Pride to the Colonial Athletic Association title and the NCAA Tournament. For his efforts, he was an All-CAA first team selection, and was named the CAA Defensive Player of the Year, and the CAA Championship Tournament Most Valuable Player.

In 2007 as a junior, Unterstein earned USILA All-American honorable mention honors, and was named to the All-CAA second team as well as the All-CAA Tournament team. As a sophomore in 2006, Kevin, his twin brother Mike, and their older brother Chris combined to help lead Hofstra to a 17-2 record, a No. 2 national ranking and a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. He was also named to the All-CAA Rookie Team as a freshman.

Following graduation in 2008, he became an assistant under Bill Tierney at Princeton, working with the defense and face-off specialists. He would follow Tierney to Denver to help coordinate the Pioneers' man-down unit and work specifically with the defensive midfielders and work with assistant coach Trevor Tierney with the defense and the overall face-off game.

A native of Shoreham, N.Y., he was a high school All-American at Shoreham-Wading River High, where he was part of four Suffolk County championships and one state championship.

Unterstein is engaged to be married to Melissa Orlando in October, 2011.