Dorsey Tierney-Walker took over the Arizona State men and women's swimming program on May 19, 2009. Tierney-Walker will be only the second head coach in ASU's history to direct both the men and women's swimming teams while becoming the Sun Devil men's program fifth head coach in history and sixth in the women's program. She is the first woman to coach a men's sport at ASU since Sheri Rhodes coached the combined archery program.
In her five seasons as head coach of the Sun Devils, Tierney-Walker has led two athletes to four Pac-12 titles, had athletes set 16 new program records, 15 athletes earn 26 All-American honors, and has consistently placed a double-digit number of student-athletes on the Pac-12 All-Academic teams.
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Last season, with his Pac-12 Championship in the 200 fly senior Alex Coci became the first Sun Devil men's swimmer to claim a conference title since CJ Nuess in 2008. Coci's time of 1:42.97 set a new program record in the 200 fly and broke the previous record he set a season before. The senior's time in the event was also 15th-best in the nation in 2014.
In 2012, breaststroker Rebecca Ejdervik became the first ASU athlete to win three Pac-10/12 titles in the same event with three conference championships in the 100 breast. Ejdervik is also the school record holder in the 100 yard breast with a time of 58.90, almost a full second faster than second-all-time Beata Kaszuba at 59.71.
Previously, Tierney-Walker served as the co-women's head coach of the Auburn Tigers. In her four years at Auburn, the Tigers won two NCAA Championships (2006 and 2007) and two SEC Conference titles. With Tierney-Walker on deck, the Tigers have garnered 196 All-American honors and have finished no lower than sixth at the NCAA Championships.
Prior to her time at Auburn, Tierney-Walker served as the women's head coach at Indiana University for seven years. She was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2002 and led the Hoosier swimmers to 99 All-American honors. With Tierney-Walker at the helm, the Hoosiers finished an Indiana history-best ninth place at the NCAA Championships in 2005. In her last four years at Indiana, Tierney-Walker's swimmers broke every school swimming record.
Tierney-Walker was an assistant coached at national powerhouse Southern Methodist 1996-98. During her three-year stint at SMU, Tierney-Walker helped lead the Mustangs to three top-four finishes at the NCAA Championships, including a runner-up finish in 1996.
The collegiate scene is not the only place where Tierney-Walker has found success as she has also been a premier international coach. She served as an assistant coach for the United States at the World University Games in 2001 and coached Susan Woessner to a silver medal in the 100m backstroke, bronze medal in the 50m backstroke and silver medal as a member of the 400m medley relay. Tierney-Walker also assisted Cyndi Gallagher at the 2007 World University Games where the team picked up 10 medals at the Pan-Am Games.
A successful athlete herself, she has won four gold medals at the Pan-Am Games and was also an Olympic Trials finalist in 1988 and 1992. In collegiate action, Tierney-Walker swam for the University of Texas. She helped lead the Longhorns to two National Championship and collected 16 All-American honors in her collegiate career. She earned her B.A. in English with a minor in history from Texas in 1992. She served as an assistant coach at her alma mater for a year following graduation.
Her brother, Jimmy Tierney, is the head coach of the women's swimming team at Northwestern.