Takayo Siddle returned to the Port City as the new head coach of the Seahawk program on March 13, 2020, and has it back humming. He previously served as an assistant coach at Hargrave Military Academy, Gardner-Webb, UNCW and NC State. He is the 13th head coach in UNCW history.
Siddle capped his fifth year as UNCW's bench boss with the school's return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight years. The 39-year-old has produced a 106-47 record during his time in the Port City, including 99 wins over the previous four seasons.
In five seasons at the helm, Siddle has piloted UNCW to the top of the CAA with its league-record seventh CAA Tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth, its first road win over a ranked opponent in school history at No. 12 Kentucky on Dec. 2, 2023, in Rupp Arena. The Seahawks have also won a regular-season title in the CAA, two in-season tournament crowns and the 2022 College Basketball Invitational Championship. UNCW advanced to CAA championship games in 2022, 2023 and 2025.
The fastest UNCW head coach to reach 100 career victories (144 games), Siddle is the only coach in the program's Division I era to guide the Seahawks to four consecutive seasons with 20 or more wins. He has navigated a pair of 27-win campaigns, including this season when he was the fourth-youngest head coach (youngest in the West Region) among the 68 schools in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Siddle returned the program to national prominence during the 2021-22 season when he guided UNCW to a share of the CAA regular season title and won four games in four days to win the 2022 CBI Championship in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The Seahawks have finished league play tied for third place or better over the last four campaigns with a 12-game win streak in 2021-22 and a program-record 13-game win streak the following year.
Siddle has overseen the development of seven All-CAA selections at UNCW, including reigning CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player
Donovan Newby and Seahawk alum
Jaylen Sims, who became the Greensboro Swarm's all-time leading scorer in early 2025.
The Seahawks won a program record 15 home games in 2024-25 highlighted by the inaugural Live Oak Bank Holiday Classic over Thanksgiving Weekend and closed the season with eight straight Trask Coliseum sellouts.
Siddle played for and coached with Coach Kevin Keatts and served as interim head coach for the Seahawks in March of 2017 before joining his longtime mentor on the NC State bench in Raleigh. Siddle is a tireless recruiter and was tabbed the No. 4 recruiter in the country in 2019.
During his three-year stay at UNCW from 2014-17, Siddle helped the Seahawks return to prominence in the CAA, winning three regular season championships and two CAA Tournament crowns (2016, 2017).
The Seahawks went 72-28 overall in Siddle’s three years and advanced to the postseason all three campaigns, including the CIT (2015), NCAA (2016) and NCAA (2017). He recruited five All-CAA selections as the Seahawks went 48-14 in the circuit.
Siddle moved on to NC State and the success followed. The Wolfpack averaged more than 80 points per game in Siddle’s first two seasons with the Pack. Prior to that, the last NC State team to average more than 80 points in a season was the 1995-96 team.
Siddle played a key role in the emergence of Pack guards Markell Johnson and Braxton Beverly. He developed Johnson into a premier playmaker in the NCAA. Johnson a Second-Team All-ACC selection in 2019-20, led the ACC in assists as a sophomore (2017-18) and senior (2019-20) and became just the third-player in NCSU history to score 1,100 career points, rack up 600 career assists and record 150 steals. Beverly, meanwhile, signed with the Pack a few months after Siddle joined the staff and drained 136 three-pointers in his first two seasons, the most by an NC State player through their sophomore year.
After Siddle’s arrival, the Wolfpack featured one of the best offensive attacks in the ACC. NC State ranked in the top-40 in the NCAA in tempo by KenPom.com in the first two seasons.
In addition, the Wolfpack was dangerous from long distance the last three seasons. In 2018-19, NC State hit 292 three-pointers, the second-most in program history. The 2017-18 NC State team set a program record when it hit a 19 three-pointers in a win over Jacksonville. One of Siddle’s outside threats, junior guard Devon Daniels, raised his scoring average from 9.0 ppg to 12.7 ppg in 2019-20.
Siddle launched his coaching career in 2009-10 as a member of Keatts’ staff at Hargrave, beginning a long, successful relationship with his mentor. The Tigers featured 12 NCAA Division I signees, including five in the ACC, SEC, Big East and Big Ten Conferences.
Siddle then spent four years at Gardner-Webb. He was hired as an assistant coach at GWU by former head coach and current Ohio State skipper Chris Holtmann, who served as an assistant coach during Siddle’s freshman, sophomore and junior years in Boiling Springs.
Siddle followed Keatts to the North Carolina coast in the summer of 2014 and helped the Seahawks compile a 72-28 record with three postseason berths in as many years from 2015-17. The Seahawks captured the 2015 and 2016 CAA titles and advanced to play in the NCAA Tournament in Providence (vs. Duke) and Orlando (vs. Virginia).
A native of Eden, N.C., Siddle was a prep standout for Coach John Harder at Morehead High School, averaging 27.0 points, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals in his senior season with the Panthers.
He attended Hargrave Military Academy in 2004-05 and propelled the Tigers to the national prep school championship game.
Siddle played four seasons at Gardner-Webb from 2005-09, appearing in 114 contests. He played in 21 games during his freshman year when GWU upset Minnesota and East Carolina on the road and took defending national champion North Carolina to the final buzzer.
As a junior in 2007-08, Siddle saw action in 32 games and played a key role as Gardner-Webb stunned No. 20 Kentucky at Rupp Arena and advanced to the Final Four of the 2007 2K Sports College Hoops Classic in Madison Square Garden.
Siddle earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Sociology from Gardner-Webb in 2009.
The Takayo Siddle File
Full Name: Takayo Lemont Siddle
Date of Birth: May 25, 1986
Birthplace: Eden, N.C.
Education: B.S., Sociology, Gardner-Webb University, 2009
Takayo Siddle Coaching Timeline
Assistant Coach | Hargrave Military Academy (1)
2009-10
Assistant Coach | Gardner-Webb University (4)
2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14
Assistant Coach | UNCW (3)
2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17
Assistant Coach | NC State (3)
2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20
Head Coach | UNCW (5)
2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25
Takayo Siddle Coaching Record | Year-by-Year
| Season |
Position |
Overall |
Conf |
| 2009-10 |
Assistant Coach | Hargrave Military (Keatts) |
28-1 |
n/a |
| 2010-11 |
Assistant Coach | Gardner Webb (Holtmann) |
11-21 |
6-12 |
| 2011-12 |
Assistant Coach | Gardner Webb (Holtmann) |
12-20 |
6-12 |
| 2012-13 |
Assistant Coach | Gardner Webb (Holtmann) |
21-13 |
11-5 |
| 2013-14 |
Assistant Coach | Gardner Webb (Craft) |
18-15 |
10-6 |
| 2014-15 |
Assistant Coach | UNCW (Keatts) |
18-14 |
12-6 |
| 2015-16 |
Assistant Coach | UNCW (Keatts) |
25-8 |
14-4 |
| 2016-17 |
Assistant Coach | UNCW (Keatts) |
29-6 |
15-3 |
| 2017-18 |
Assistant Coach | NC State (Keatts) |
21-12 |
11-7 |
| 2018-19 |
Assistant Coach | NC State (Keatts) |
24-12 |
9-9 |
| 2019-20 |
Assistant Coach | NC State (Keatts) |
20-12 |
10-10 |
| 2020-21 |
Head Coach | UNCW |
7-10 |
1-6 |
| 2021-22 |
Head Coach | UNCW |
27-9 |
15-3 |
| 2022-23 |
Head Coach | UNCW |
24-10 |
12-6 |
| 2023-24 |
Head Coach | UNCW |
21-10 |
12-6 |
| 2024-25 |
Head Coach | UNCW |
27-8 |
14-4 |
Takayo Siddle Head Coaching Record
| 2020-21 |
Head Coach | UNCW |
7-10 |
1-6 |
| 2021-22 |
Head Coach | UNCW |
27-9 |
15-3 |
| 2022-23 |
Head Coach | UNCW |
24-10 |
12-6 |
| 2023-24 |
Head Coach | UNCW |
21-10 |
12-6 |
| 2024-25 |
Head Coach | UNCW |
27-8 |
14-4 |
| TOTAL |
|
106-47 |
54-25 |
Takayo Siddle Championships
2015 – CAA Regular Season | UNCW
2016 – CAA Regular Season | UNCW
CAA Tournament | UNCW
2017 – CAA Regular Season | UNCW
CAA Tournament | UNCW
2021 – Mako Medical Asheville Classic | UNCW
2022 – CAA Regular Season | UNCW
2022 – Roman College Basketball Invitational | UNCW
2023 - Baha Mara Hoops Invitational | UNCW
2025 - CAA Tournament | UNCW
Takayo Siddle Postseason Appearances
2013 – CIT | Gardner Webb
2015 – CIT | UNCW
2016 – NCAA | UNCW
2017 – NCAA | UNCW
2018 – NCAA | NC State
2019 – NIT | NC State
2022 – CBI | UNCW
2025 – NCAA | UNCW
Takayo Siddle Recognition
2021-22 | CAA Coach of the Year, NABC District 10 Coach of the Year, Nominated for Ben Jobe Award
2022-23 | Nominated for Ben Jobe Award, Nominated for Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award
2023-24 | Recognized by Wilmington Chamber of Commerce 40 Under 40 Award
2024-25 | Nominated for Ben Jobe Award
Takayo Siddle Year By Year at UNCW
2020-21
-Overall record of 7-10 during Covid-19 affected season
-Championship of Mako Medical Asheville Classic
2021-22
-Regular season championship in Colonial Athletic Association (15-3) after being picked ninth in preseason
-First postseason championship in program's history (College Basketball Invitational)
-Tied for third best turnaround in NCAA Division I play
-Second most victories in a season in UNCW basketball history
-Longest winning streak (12 games) in history of program
-Most wins by a CAA program since 2018-19
-Eighth 20-win season in school's history
-Six regular season series sweep in conference play
-Nation-leading 10 double-digit comeback victories
-Record of 19-4 in games decided by seven points or less
-First undefeated season in January (8-0) in school's history
-Perfect record in overtime (5-0)
-20-1 record when scoring 70 or more points
2022-23
-Championship of Baha Mar Hoops Invitational in Nassau, The Bahamas
-School record for longest winning streak with 13 consecutive victories
2023-24
-Program’s first road win (80-73) vs. a nationally ranked opponent at No. 12 Kentucky on Dec. 2, 2023 at Rupp Arena
-First time the program has won at least 20 games in three consecutive seasons in the Division I era.
2024-25
-Set program record for points scored (143) and players in double figures (8) in season-opening victory vs. Mount Olive
-Went 2-1 at inaugural Live Oak Bank Holiday Classic in Wilmington
-Broke the school rebounding record with 72 vs. Spartanburg Methodist
-Extended program record with fourth straight 20-win season
-Earned 100th career win vs. Charleston, becoming the fastest UNCW coach to 100 career wins (144 games)
-Guided UNCW to CAA record seventh conference tournament title
What They’re Saying About Takayo Siddle
“UNCW is a special place to me and I couldn’t be happier with their decision to name Takayo Siddle as head coach. This is a fantastic hire by UNCW. Takayo has a tireless work ethic, a great basketball mind and an engaging personality. I’ve had the unique opportunity to coach him as a player and then was able to see him grow into an outstanding man and coach as a member of my coaching staff. Congratulations to Takayo and UNCW.”
- Kevin Keatts, Head Coach, UNCW and NC State
“What a great hire by UNCW! Takayo is bright, extremely hard working and outstanding at connecting with players. He can really coach and teach our game. He has earned this opportunity and I know he is very excited about getting started. I’m thrilled for Takayo and UNCW.”
- Chris Holtmann, Head Coach, DePaul
“I’ve known Takayo since he was 18 years old, and even at that time he was very level-headed, and wise beyond his years. He cares deeply about his players and works to help them develop at the highest level. He is a great mentor and teacher, a relentless recruiter and terrific basketball tactician. With Coach Siddle, UNCW is getting the total package.”
- Tim Craft, Head Coach Gardner-Webb
