"He's exactly what I wanted for this job," Towers said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "This was obviously a hire worth waiting for."
Torpey helped coached the Denver Pioneers to two Great Western Lacrosse League championship victories during his tenure. The team's triumph in 2006 was Denver's first-ever championship win and marked their maiden appearance at the NCAA tournament.
Before joining Denver, Torpey was an assistant coach at Denison University in Ohio while playing professionally in the National Lacrosse League. He helped lead Denison to a Final Four appearance at the Division III men's lacrosse tournament in 2001.
Torpey will join the Big Green following the team's worst performance in over 10 years a 4-11 overall finish and 1-5 finish in the Ivy League.
Former head coach Bill Wilson announced his resignation at the end of the season.
Despite these difficulties, Torpey remained optimistic about the upcoming season. The new top assistant coach predicted a successful season, adding that the "team next year could be winners."
Towers said he thought that Torpey's proven prowess as a defensive coach could help the Big Green, adding that he views a lack of defense as "a major issue for us" and a potential area for improvement.
"We have great personnel, but I'm not positive it's been utilized in the past," Towers said.
Torpey has a history of improving faltering defenses. Early in his career as a coach, Torpey helped transform the previously unranked lacrosse team of Goucher College in Baltimore, Md., into the 13th-place team in terms of blocked goals.
Torpey, who will formally start his tenure at the beginning of September, said that improving defense will be his main priority as he begins working with the team.
"I'll work with the defenders on individual fundamentals to start. Some of the things we do at the University of Denver are a little different," he said. "Then I'll want to work on getting them into a basic, simple defense, but really demanding perfection in it."
Torpey said he has already met and interacted with some Big Green players when they were on a high school club team he coached in Colorado. Torpey attempted to recruit some of these team members to play for Denver, he said, although they eventually opted to come to Dartmouth.
"If these guys work hard and I know they're hard workers I think they'll see results," he said.
Towers praised the Pioneers' former coach during Monday's announcement, calling Torpey "hyper-competitive [and] a tireless worker." The new assistant head coach's presence at Dartmouth will also "attract other great talent in terms of recruiting in the years ahead," Towers told The Dartmouth.
"I don't think the school has ever had such an unbelievable hire for this program," he said.
Torpey graduated in 2000 from Ohio State University, where he was a three-time captain and All-Academic Big Ten selection for the Buckeyes. Torpey was also a four-time Scholar Athlete Award winner and a finalist for the Big Ten Medal of Honor and the Corwin A. Fergus Award.
During his time as assistant coach at Goucher, Torpey earned an additional bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in sports administration.
After leaving Ohio State, Torphey played with the Columbus Landsharks, the Philadelphia Wings and the Colorado Mammoth for two seasons each, winning the World Championship in 2006. Torpey was a Major League Lacrosse champion in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006, winning the title as a member of the Denver Outlaws and Philadelphia Barrage, respectively. He spent one summer with the Victoria Shamrocks, a Canadian team in the Western Lacrosse Association, and won the Mann Cup.
Torpey said he looks forward to beginning work with Dartmouth's lacrosse players in September.
"Dartmouth's [lacrosse] roster is just full with great kids who are committed, and I'm going to be committed to helping them be better students, better athletes and better people each day," Torpey said. "There's the talent and work ethic there in every kid on the team that we'd need to make them great. I'm really excited."
