Men's Lacrosse
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Phone:
- 719-333-7544
Bill Wilson enters his seventh season as the head lacrosse coach at Air Force in the 2025 season. Wilson, who served as the interim head coach in the 2018 season and took the helm of the program in 2019, has 16 years coaching experience at the Academy. He is 51-46 after six seasons as Air Force’s head coach and is 90-86 in 10 career years as a head coach. Since joining the ASUN Conference in 2022, coach Wilson has led the Falcons to a share of the regular season ASUN title in 2024, three top-three finishes with three conference tournament appearances, highlighted by a visit to the ASUN Championship against top-seed Utah in 2023.
Since taking the reins as head coach, Wilson has led 29 all-conference selections highlighted by conference Defensive Player of the Year in Brandon Jones (2019) and Freshman of the Year in Turner Ashby (2024). Wilson also led Air Force to their first victory over legendary head coach Bill Tierney’s Denver Pioneers in 2023, marking Tierney’s first-ever loss to Air Force.
After a 5-10 finish in his interim year, coach Wilson guided the Falcons back to their winning ways in the 2019 campaign, going 10-5 on the season with a 6-1 mark in Southern Conference play, garnering the team’s third regular-season league title in four seasons with the conference. Under Wilson’s guidance, the Falcons saw a USILA All-America honorable mention in Brandon Jones and seven players added to All-Southern Conference teams, highlighted by a Defensive Player of the year nod in Jones. Wilson was positioned for a winning season in 2020 after pulling off a 4-3 record prior to conference play, highlighted by an upset win at No. 7 Duke in the season opener. The remainder of the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. In the Falcons’ last season with the Southern Conference, Wilson guided the team to their fourth SoCon tournament appearance in six seasons.
In 2017 Wilson played an integral role in program’s success, assisting the Falcons to their second-straight SoCon championship title and the team’s fifth visit to the NCAA tournament. In 2016 he helped Air Force to its highest national ranking to date (No. 8) and the program’s longest win streak (15 games) for the team’s best finish in program history. Air Force capped the record-breaking season at 15-3 with a perfect mark in conference action, notching an overtime upset over perennial powerhouse, Duke, en route to the program’s fourth NCAA tournament appearance.
Wilson has had a hand in coaching all five of the program’s Major Lacrosse League draftees. Erik Smith and Mike Crampton were drafted to the Boston Cannons and Colorado Mammoth, respectively, in the wake of the 2014 season. Following the 2016 campaign, Christopher Allen was drafted to the Charlotte Hounds, while Alex Warden was selected by the Denver Outlaws. In the 2019, Brandon Jones was drafted to the Denver Outlaws. Wilson is also a part of the staff that guided five Falcons (six times) to All-America honorable mention status.
Wilson was named the 2014 USILA Division I Outstanding Assistant Coach as he helped lead the program to unprecedented heights, leading the Falcons to their best season ever. The 2014 Falcons compiled an 11-6 overall record and secured their highest win total since 1988. The Falcons were able to clinch a share of the regular season conference title before going on to win the ECAC Tournament title, earning their first NCAA bid since 1988. Air Force went on to host Richmond in the NCAA play-in game, capturing its first NCAA tournament win in program history, before dropping a first-round match-up to defending national champion Duke.
Wilson came to the Academy in the summer of 2009 after spending six years as the head coach at Dartmouth College. During his tenure with the Big Green, he compiled a 40-44 overall record, while coaching nine first-team all-league players, one Ivy League Rookie of the Year, 18 first-team All-New England players and seven players selected in the Major League Lacrosse Draft. Signature wins for Dartmouth during Wilson’s six-year stint include an upset of fourth-ranked Maryland in 2005, a pair of victories of top-10 ranked Notre Dame and a win over 10th-ranked league rival Princeton in 2008.
Wilson’s coaching career began at Princeton University in 1995, where he helped coach the Tigers to the 1996 Ivy League and NCAA championships. He then spent five years as the first assistant coach and defensive coordinator at Hofstra from 1997-2001, when The Pride made four trips in five years to the NCAA Tournament, reaching the quarterfinals in both 1998 and 2000.
Before taking over the helm at Dartmouth in 2004, Wilson served as the first assistant coach and defensive coordinator at Cornell in 2003, helping the Big Red to its first Ivy League title in 16 years.
A 1994 graduate of Loyola College, Wilson was a four-year letterwinner and four-year starter at defense for the Greyhounds. Wilson’s teams at Loyola qualified for the NCAA Tournament each season, while advancing to the quarterfinals three times. He was also honored as a senior by earning a spot in the 1994 North-South All-Star game.
Wilson, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., graduated from West Genesee High School, where he was a two-sport athlete in hockey and lacrosse. In 1990, Wilson’s teams won the New York State Class “A” championships in both sports. In 1989, he represented the Central region in the Empire State Games, earning a gold medal for lacrosse.
