Baseball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- cilentwt@wfu.edu
- Phone:
- 336-758-5645
Bill Cilento finished his 14th year at Wake Forest in 2023, after being promoted to Associate Head Coach in January 2019. He works primarily with the Demon Deacon hitters and infielders.
In his time as a coach, 70 of his student-athletes have gone on to play professionally, including seven big leaguers.
Cilento mentored former 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.
He also 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 guided Bobby Seymour en route to ACC Player of the Year honors in 2019 as Seymour led the ACC in hitting and led the nation with 92 RBIs. The 2019 Deacs led the ACC with 7.84 runs per game, also batting .289 as a team with 77 homers.
Wake Forest has had 23 hitters earn all-ACC honors the last six seasons, including All-Americans Craig, Fairchild, Sheets, Seymour, Nate Mondou, Ben Breazeale, Chris Lanzilli, Brendan Tinsman, Nick Kurtz and Brock Wilken.
"Cilento is the lifeblood of our program," Walter said at the time of Cilento's 2019 promotion. "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."
The Demon Deacons have developed into one of the nation's top offenses under Cilento's watch. Wake Forest has ranked in the top 50 nationally in home runs in seven of the past eight seasons, also ranking among the nation's leaders in batting average, doubles, walks, slugging and OBP every season. In 2018 after losing six offensive starters, Cilento guided three rookies (Bobby Seymour, Chris Lanzilli and DJ Poteet) Freshman All-America honors.
In 2023, The Demon Deacons set program records in regular season wins, ACC wins, ACC series wins, postseason wins and overall wins. Finishing off the season with a 54-12 record, the Deacs increased their win total by even more this past season (13 games).
The Demon Deacons hosted the 2023 Winston-Salem Regional in the program’s 15th tournament appearance and Cilento’s fourth appearance in the postseason. The Deacs went 3-0 in their regional and posted their first 50-win season in program history. Along with that the No. 1 seed Demon Deacons swept Alabama in the super regional to send the Deacs to Omaha for the third time in program history and the first appearance since winning it all in 1955.
Wake put together another record breaking season at the dish under direction from Cilento. The 2023 Deacs set new program highs in home runs (130), walks (424), RBIs (541), and runs scored (591). In the postseason, Wake Forest set a NCAA record with 9 home runs in a single game against Alabama in the 2023 Super Regional. On the defensive side of the ball, the Deacs also set a program high in fielding percentage (.979).
Wake Forest led five different hitting statistics in the ACC. The Demon Deacons also had players in the top ten of nine different ACC hitting statistics in 2023. Brock Wilken led the ACC in slugging percentage (.807), ops (1.313), runs scored (90), home runs (31), and walks (69). Nick Kurtz led the ACC in on base percentage (.527) while finishing second in five different statistics.
The Demon Deacons went 22-7 in conference play in 2023. The Deacs became the first team since North Carolina to win all 10 ACC series in a single season along with securing the program’s first ACC regular-season title since 1963.
Brock Wilken had another outstanding season under Cilento. Wilken set career highs in hits (82) and doubles (15) along with leading Wake Forest in home runs (31) and RBIs (32). Along with that Wilken set the Wake Forest home run record (71), single-season home run record (31), single-season run record (90), single-season walk record (69).
Cilento helped further develop the talent of Nick Kurtz. Kurtz finished the season as a Second Team All-American from NCBWA and Baseball America. Along with that Kurtz was also First Team All-ACC and semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award. Kurtz finished second in the ACC in home runs (24), walks (63), runs scored (76), and slugging percentage (.784).
In 2022, the Demon Deacons posted one of its best baseball seasons ever. Wake Forest finished the campaign with 41 victories, the fifth most in program history and increased its win total by 21 games (41 wins to 20 wins), the largest year-to-year turnaround in program history.
The Deacs were selected to the 2022 NCAA Baseball Tournament, the program's 14th appearance in the national playoffs and the third tournament appearance in Cilento's tenure, after posting the program's seventh 40-win season.
Wake Forest ended the regular season with 39 wins, tying the 1999 Demon Deacons for the second-most regular season wins in program history.
The 2022 Deacs combined for one of the best offensive seasons in program history and across Division I baseball. Wake Forest broke program records for home runs (122), walks (364), RBIs (535), runs scored (561), runs per game (9.1), slugging percentage (.548), 20-run games (four), 20-run games in ACC play (two), runs in ACC game (27) and hits in an ACC game (28) while ranking in the top-10 nationally in every offensive category and leading the conference in walks, hits, home runs and runs.
Against ACC competition, Wake Forest finished over .500 for the second time in Walter’s tenure as well finishing the regular season with the highest out-of-conference winning percentage (92.3) in the nation, amassing a 24-2 record.
Under Cilento’s tutelage, Brendan Tinsman exploded for a career year in 2022. The Cape Elizabeth, Maine native tied a 34-year old program record held by Billy Masse with a career-high 24 home runs.
Additionally, Brock Wilken mashed 23 home runs in 2022, the second most in program history. The Tinsman and Wilken duo hit the most home runs by two Demon Deacons ever in a single season.
Cilento was also instrumental in Freshman All-American Nick Kurtz’s incredible freshman season. The Lancaster, Pa. native tied the freshman runs scored record (65) and finished in the top 10 in home runs (tied for second), walks (second), RBIs (tied for second) and doubles (tied for ninth) by a Wake Forest rookie.
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 2021, the Demon Deacons smashed 91 home runs, the most in the NCAA at the conclusion at the end of the regular season.
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
"Having worked with Bill for two years at the University of New Orleans, several things stood out to me," head coach Tom Walter said. "Bill has a passion for college baseball that is exemplary and is a tireless worker and relentless recruiter. He is also able to quickly and easily develop a mutual respect and unique rapport with his players."
Cilento joined the Wake Forest staff after serving the previous three seasons at Brown University where he worked as the hitting coach and the infield coach. As a team, Brown hit .308 during the 2009 season, finishing the year with a 24-19-1 record.
Cilento made an immediate impact with the Brown baseball program in his first season in 2007, helping the Bears to their first-ever Ivy League Championship and NCAA regional berth. Brown led the Ivy League in nearly every offensive statistic in 2007, including winning the batting average category by 39 points.
Walter and Cilento worked together at New Orleans for two seasons. Cilento worked with the Privateer infield during his two seasons at UNO and also assisted with recruiting. In his last season, New Orleans improved its record by 11 games, finishing fourth in the Sun Belt Conference.
Before his time at New Orleans, Cilento was an assistant at his alma mater, Siena. In three seasons, he coached five players who were selected in the MLB Draft, the MAAC Pitcher of the Year, a freshman All-American and six All-MAAC selections.
Cilento worked as a hitting instructor for the 2002 regular season champion Schenectady Mohawks of the New York Collegiate Baseball League, where he coached longtime big leaguer Hunter Pence. In 2001, he coached the American Legion's Cissel Saxon Post 41 in Montgomery County, Maryland, to the 2001 Maryland State Championship.
Cilento was a four-year starter at Siena and was a member of two MAAC regular season championship teams. He was also a part of the 1999 Siena team, which competed in an NCAA regional at Wake Forest Baseball Park.
A native of Brookeville, Md., Cilento graduated from Siena College in 2003 with a degree in accounting.
Cilento lives in Winston-Salem, N.C. with his wife Jennifer and his daughters, Brooke, Katie, Megan and Reese.
