Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Athletics

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse program has added Joe Cillo as an assistant coach in August 2023. He will concentrate on directing the team's defense, while also handling a variety of responsibilities under the tutelage of head coach Scott Hackett-Dalgliesh.

A native of Olmstead Falls, Ohio, Cillo joins Rensselaer from Saint Vincent College, where he was an assistant coach for two seasons, 2022 and 2023. In his first, he helped the Bearcats to a 13-2 record and a spot in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) tournament final. Over the course of the season, the squad allowed a conference low 6.47 goals per game and four student-athletes earned All-League. 

The 2023 campaign was highlighted by 15 victories (15-3), another appearance in the league championship game, and defenseman Brody McMahon earning PAC Defensive Player of the Year and U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) All-America - the first in Bearcats history. 

From 2018 to 2020, Cillo coached the defense at Lake Erie College while he earned a Master of Business Administration. In his first and only full season there due to COVID-19 restrictions, he mentored a pair of All-Conference backliners, including a defenseman on the First Team and a goalie on the Second Team.
 
Prior to his time at Lake Erie, where he was the interim head coach in the fall of 2018, he coached for multiple club programs in the Greater Cleveland Area, including Xcelerate and Force Knights.
 
Cillo played defense for Division II Seton Hill University from 2015-18, compiling All-America and Scholar All-America honors, as well as multiple All-Great Midwest Athletic Conference accolades. He helped lead the squad to its best season in school history in 2018, which culminated with a trip to the NCAA Division II Final Four. The Griffins finished 17-2 that year and Cillo was USILA All-America Third Team. He also played in the North-South Senior All-Star Game.

He earned a bachelor's degree as an Arts in History major with a minor in Business Administration. Cillo attended Saint Ignatius High School.