FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee head coach Dave Serrano filled out the full-time portion of his coaching staff on Monday when he announced the addition of childhood friend and former colleague Bill Mosiello as the team’s recruiting coordinator and hitting coach.
“It is with great pleasure that I welcome Bill Mosiello to our coaching staff,” Serrano said. “He has been a longtime friend and his wealth of baseball knowledge will greatly benefit our program. ‘Mo’ was my batterymate all throughout Little League, high school and junior college and coached with me at Cerritos College at the start of my coaching career.
“Since then, he has been successful at every level of baseball imaginable, both collegiately and professionally. I am extremely excited to be able to add a coach of his caliber to our staff and look forward to working with him and Coach Bergeron to get this program back to the top.”
No stranger to the SEC, Mosiello brings 17 years of collegiate coaching experience and seven more years of experience as a minor league manager back to Rocky Top for his second stint with the Big Orange. In addition to his responsibilities with recruiting and the team’s hitters, Mosiello will also work with UT’s catching corps and serve as Serrano’s bench coach.
“I am really excited to be back at UT and am ready to accept this challenge with an incredible coaching staff,” Mosiello said. “The opportunity to be with my family in a city as gorgeous as Knoxville, at an institution as special as the University of Tennessee and work with a coach and friend I trust my life with in Dave Serrano was simply too good to pass up.
“The timing obviously wasn’t great with me leaving the Angels organization and that was unfortunate, but opportunities like this don’t happen every day. I can’t put into words what a special place this is, especially with Dave leading the program. Things happened quickly but I just feel that everything is lining up to give us a unique chance to get this place going again. We all left great situations and have a lot on the line, but as big as the challenge may be, the rewards are even greater.”
During his first tour of duty at Tennessee, Mosiello, 46, helped the Vols claim consecutive SEC championships in 1993 and 1994, playing critical roles in the development of first-round draft selections and current Major Leaguers Todd Helton and R.A. Dickey.
“I’m very excited to have Bill Mosiello on board with Coach Serrano,” Helton said. “To this day, when my swing isn’t feeling right he is the person I call for advice. ‘Mo’ will be a tremendous asset for any UT player with a bat in their hands.”
Most recently, Mosiello served as the manager of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim’s Double-A affiliate, the Arkansas Travelers where he tutored MLB.com’s No. 1-ranked prospect, Mike Trout. He led the Travelers to a Texas League North Division first-half title with a 36-31 record this season.
Mosiello joined the Angels organization in 2009, spending his first two seasons as the manager of the single-A Cedar Rapids Kernels. He guided them to a 160-116 record (.580) during the 2009 and 2010 campaigns. Mosiello owns a career managerial record of 393-304 (.564) in the minor leagues, including his two years at Cedar Rapids and parts of three seasons in the New York Yankees organization from 2004-06.
Between his stints with the Yankees and Angels, Mosiello returned to the collegiate ranks as a hitting coach at Southern California in 2007 and at Auburn in 2008. Despite his short tenures at both schools, he coached three different players to become freshmen All-Americans during that span. Shortstop Grant Green picked up the accolades in Mosiello’s one season in Los Angeles, while Hunter Morris and Brian Fletcher took home the honors after his year at Auburn.
Prior to USC, Mosiello spent four years as a member of the New York Yankees organization, including two as the manager for the Charleston RiverDogs, the Yankees’ single-A affiliate of the South Atlantic League, where he posted a two-year record of 129-98 (.568). He also managed the Battle Creek Yankees in 2004 and spent a season as the hitting instructor for the Trenton Thunder (AA) in the Yankees system.
Before beginning his minor league career, Mosiello spent 15 seasons in the collegiate coaching ranks. After the completion of his playing career at Fresno State in 1986, he began his coaching career at Cerritos College where he posted a 163-34 record in four seasons (1987-90), won four South Coast Conference titles and two California state junior college championships.
Mosiello made the move to the Division I level in 1991, joining Augie Garrido’s staff at Cal State Fullerton where he spent two seasons (1991-92). In `92, the Titans advanced to the College World Series championship game, featuring Golden Spikes Award winner and No. 1 overall draft selection Phil Nevin.
After his two years at Tennessee and one season as the pitching coach at Ole Miss (1995), Mosiello spent five seasons (1996-2000) at Oklahoma with part of his tenure as associate head coach. At Oklahoma, the Sooners posted several top finishes in the final national and conference fielding rankings, including a streak of three consecutive first-place finishes in the Big XII Conference. Offensively, none of his teams at Oklahoma hit worse than a .309 clip.
Mosiello then spent the 2001 season at Arizona State before joining the Yankees.
Tabbed by Baseball America as one of the nation’s top assistant coaches in 2001, Mosiello has guided over 25 All-Americans and more than 10 first-round major league draft picks. He has managed or coached over 50 players during his career who have played in the majors, including Nevin, Helton, Sean Casey, Craig Counsell and David Dellucci.
Mosiello has earned Manager of the Year honors twice in the Alaska Summer League (1990, 1991) and once in the Cape Cod Baseball League (1998).
Mosiello and his wife, Janelle, have three sons; Shane (14), Gehrig (11) and Helton (4).
