Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach/Director of Player Development
- Email:
- kbleathe@ncsu.edu
Kevin Leatherwood joined the NC State women’s basketball staff as an assistant coach prior to the start of the 2023-24 season following the NCAA vote to allow two more assistants on Division I women’s basketball staffs. He approaches his third season on staff ahead of 2025-26, focusing on the post players and player development. The Pack has gone 58-14 (28-7 in ACC) since he's been in Raleigh.
Coming off a memorable 2024-25 season, the Pack earned its sixth Sweet 16 berth in the past seven tournaments, and a 28-7 record, 16-2 mark in the ACC, to share the ACC Regular Season title. With injuries to the frontcourt during the season, Leatherwood was big in the production and development of Tilda Trygger, Lorena Awou and Mallory Collier. Trygger earned her way into the starting lineup and earned ACC All-Freshman Team honors and Awou improved immensely in her short amount of time playing competitive basketball. That 2024-25 team finished No. 9 in the Associated Press rankings.
In his first season at NC State, the Wolfpack enjoyed a historical 31-7 season, which was highlighted by the program’s first NCAA Final Four appearance since 1998. The team finished the season with a No. 4 final AP ranking and logged nine top 25 wins. Post players River Baldwin and Mimi Collins were instrumental to the Pack's success, each of whom saw their scoring averages double from the seasons prior.
Leatherwood came to Raleigh after spending the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Navy. He also previously served as Director of Basketball Operations at Georgia State and assistant coach at Hampden-Sydney College.
During his time at Navy, Leatherwood helped guide the Mids to a total of four All-Patriot League honors and was a part of the team’s run to the conference tournament semifinals in 2021-22.
Before heading to Annapolis, he spent two seasons as a member of the staff at Georgia State. As the Panthers’ Director of Operations, Leatherwood managed the team’s travel, long-range budgeting, breakdown of game film and direction of summer camp. Georgia State reached the postseason in Leatherwood’s first year with a spot in the 2019 Women’s Basketball Invitational, capping off a 17-win year that marked the most victories for the team since 2003-04.
Leatherwood’s first coaching stop was as an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team at Hampden-Sydney where he joined the Tiger staff prior to the 2014-15 season. In four years in Farmville, Virginia, he took on numerous responsibilities both on and off the court. He was leaned on as the defensive coordinator for Hampden-Sydney while also having heavy involvement in skill development, practice planning and recruiting. Leatherwood also managed operational aspects of the Tiger program during his tenure in addition to coordinating the team’s social media accounts. Hampden-Sydney had a total of four Old Dominion Athletic Conference honorees under his guidance.
A native of Charlottesville, Virginia, Leatherwood was a four-year letterwinner at Carson-Newman. He ended his collegiate career having been a part of 65 wins for the Eagles between 2010-11 and 2013-14. During his senior season, the Eagles reached the NCAA Division II Tournament for the program’s first such appearance in over 10 years.
Leatherwood graduated from Carson-Newman in 2014 with a degree in business administration. He is the proud father of his daughter Amiyah and his son Kai.
COACH MOORE'S TAKE:
"Coach Leatherwood is a great new addition to our staff. He's really strong on the court and with player development, and he has a passion for teaching players the finer points of the game. He brings an upbeat personality that makes him an excellent communicator both on and off the court. His previous Division I experience will also be an asset in all phases of our program's preparation and planning for the upcoming season."
