Cilento Promoted to Associate Head Coach

1/4/2019 11:17:00 AM | Baseball

Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter announced that he elevated Bill Cilento to Associate Head Coach prior to his 10th season.

By: Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeBaseball)

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter announced on Friday that Bill Cilento has been promoted to Associate Head Coach.

"I want to thank Ron Wellman for making it possible to keep Bill Cilento in the Deacon family for many years to come," Walter said. "Cilento is the lifeblood of our program. He is a relentless recruiter, a gifted teacher and the consummate professional. Most importantly, he is a wonderful father and an incredible example to our student-athletes of what a kind, empathetic and loyal DEAC looks like."

Entering his 10th season with the program, Cilento has developed Wake Forest into one of the top offensive powers in the country. The Deacs have ranked in the top 50 nationally in home runs in three of the past four seasons, also ranking among the nation's leaders in batting average, doubles, walks, slugging and OBP. In 2017, Wake Forest became the first Division I school in the nation to surpass 100 home runs in the BBCOR era, leading the nation with 106 blasts and 1.68 longballs per game.

In his time as a coach, 56 of his student-athletes have gone on to play professionally, including five big leaguers.

"I couldn't be more grateful to Tom Walter and Ron Wellman for this opportunity," Cilento said. "Wake Forest has become home for me and my family, and we're excited to be here for the long haul. I can't want to get back on the field and help the Deacs get back to Omaha."

He oversaw the development of National Player of the Year Will Craig, the first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2016. After not making an all-conference team his freshman year, Craig's improvement earned him ACC Player of the Year honors in 2015 and made him a unanimous first team All-American in 2016. Stuart Fairchild and Gavin Sheets were both All-Americans and top-50 overall selections in the 2017 MLB Draft.

Cilento also mentored current San Francisco Giant Mac Williamson, who was recruited to Wake Forest as a pitcher. After transitioning to outfield, Williamson went on to earn All-ACC honors and was drafted in the third round before working his way to the MLB.

Wake Forest has had 13 hitters earn All-ACC honors the last four seasons, including All-Americans Craig, Fairchild, Sheets, Nate Mondou and Ben Breazeale.

The 2017 Demon Deacons hosted and swept the Winston-Salem Regional and finished a game away from the College World Series at the Gainesville Super Regional. Wake Forest finished the year with a 43-20 overall record, the most wins in 15 years. The Deacon offense ranked in the top 20 nationally in homers, slugging (fifth - .509), runs (ninth - 481), hits (ninth - 693), walks (11th - 306), runs per game (13th - 7.6), doubles (15th - 129), on-base percentage (15th - .401) and average (.308). In addition to breaking the program home run record, Cilento also helped the Deacs break the program fielding-percentage record with a mark of .978.

Last year, Cilento guided a trio of rookies - Bobby Seymour, Chris Lanzilli and DJ Poteet - to Freshman All-America seasons as the Deacs replaced six offensive starters.