Yale finally reaches the mountaintop

Building a program is a process. The benefits of recruiting don’t show up for years. It’s a test of patience, of sticking to the system and proving to yourself as much as others that the program is on the right track. For Yale, that path began 15 years ago.

Andy Shay took over the Yale program following a 9-5 season filled with hope. After several years in the middle of the Ivy League pack, the Bulldogs began to struggle, bottoming out at 4-10 before slowly building up.

Then 2009 happened.

Yale finished at 10-4, winning a share of the Ivy League before falling in the NCAA tournament to Princeton.

Things were starting to look up.

But a national championship?