Bio

Bill Villareal is an integral part of Salve Regina University's athletic success. He has unmatched leadership skills and is such a positive influence on the department and the institution. I am thrilled that he is our Associate AD. Through his coaching of women's lacrosse and role in the administration he has impacted so many student-athletes lives and helped Salve Regina athletics grow.

Villareal came to Salve Regina in 2013 when he joined Patrick Cooney's men's lacrosse coaching staff as an assistant. In 2014, that program won its first-ever ECAC New England Championship with wins over Mitchell (21-7) and Becker (15-10). Next, Villareal was hired as head coach of the women's lacrosse program in 2015.

Three years later he became a full-time member of the athletic administration when he was hired as an assistant athletic director for internal operations and facilities.

Villareal honed his leadership and athletic skills as a lacrosse defenseman for the United States Naval Academy where he gained NCAA Division I championship tournament experience, and later served over two decades in the U.S. Navy while retiring as a Commander after 22 years.

"When you follow the chain of command," Villareal says, "the organization is at its strongest. You must support and respect the hierarchy or the company, and its workers, may suffer."

Villareal has led his team to the semifinals of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) postseason in three of the past five seasons. He has had 18 players make an All-CCC team, and 82 student-athletes earn Academic All-CCC, including two Senior Scholar Athletes. In a pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, he witnessed the graduation of his daughter, Maddie, after a record-setting four-year career for her as a Seahawk.