Despite departure, Tierney still has fond words for Fenwick

Even today, even with all that’s happened, Bo Tierney wants to make one thing crystal clear.”Bishop Fenwick,” he says, “means the world to me. That’s means. Present tense. Not meant. Means.”Then again, loyalty always meant the world to Bo Tierney. So even after he was called into the principal’s office in May and told, in a meeting that lasted, he says, less than five minutes, that he was not going to have his contract as a teacher, head hockey coach and athletic director renewed after it expired on June 30, he has nothing but good words for the institution.”That’s how I was raised,” said Tierney, who is adamantly taking the high road in what has to be one of the year’s most shocking developments in high school sports.He worked right up until the last day of that contract ? “until 1:30 p.m. on June 30,” he said. He completed the fall schedules, sent them out to the various assigners of officials, started working on winter schedules, worked on the athletic budget ? and then, very quietly, checked all the doors to make sure they were secured ? and left.”It’ll be three weeks since I left,” he said. “I’m doing fine. I’ve played golf, when the weather’s been allowable; I’ve been in touch with athletic directors and other schools to see if there are any opportunities ? talked to people outside the education field ? but one thing’s for sure, this isn’t a good time to be out of work, with the economy and the business world struggling.”Bishop Fenwick is all Robert “Bo” Tierney has ever known in his adult life. Even though he graduated in 1969 from Salem High, his two brothers went there, and he first worked there as a sophomore in college in 1970. He never left until June. If you’re counting, that’s 39 years.”I figured I’d retire from here,” said Tierney, who is 59. “I figured I’d be here another seven or eight years.”I don’t think I’d have coached that long,” said Tierney, who won his 200th game as a coach this past winter. “Probably another one or two years, and that’s mainly because of the demands of being an AD. It’s different now. There’s more to do.”But the fire was still in the belly,” he said. “I was excited about next year, mainly because of the team I had coming back.”He remembers the day he was told he was being let go ? mainly because of the time it took for him to meet with principal Sister Catherine Fleming and for her to tell him of his status.”When I went in there,” he said, “I thought it was just another meeting. There are so many of them. But then, the principal told me they were not going to give me a chance to continue once my contract was up. They said they needed to go in another direction.”Tierney also recalls that there might have been some talk about parents being unhappy about the way things were going with the athletic department, “but nothing directly. When I left, I looked at the clock, and it hadn’t even been five minutes.”I had to go back to my office and play it all back just to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind,” he said. “I was stunned.”Nevertheless, he said he’s proud of the work he’s done there.”I leave very proud of the job I’ve done,” he said. “I never, ever said ‘no’ to any principal, vice principal or athletic director. I did whatever they asked me ? including coaching cheerleaders, working in the campus ministry office, film school adviser ? assistant volleyball coach ? whatever they asked me to do, I did. Even up to my last week on the job.”So this hurts, to say the least,” he said. “I have my mood swings. That’s for sure. But I have a great family, and great friends, and they’re really helping me get through this.”Ironically, the person taking his place – at least on an interim basis – is Dave Woods, who Tierney strongly recommended to succeed Al Costabile as football coach.”He’s been great for the school,” said Tierney. “You know, when you leave, someone has to take your place. I don’t have a problem that it’s him. I think he’ll do a great job for the school.”Tierney would like to be remember