North Carolina State University Athletics
Staff Directory
- Title:
- Head Coach
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Head Coaching Highlights
- 2020 DI Golf Pride Grips WGCA Assistant Coach of the Year
- Six conference championships (five Missouri Valley Conference championships and one South Atlantic Conference Championship)
- Five-time conference coach of the year (four consecutive MVC Coach of the Year awards from 2008-11 and SAC Coach of the Year following the 2006-07 season)
- As a head coach, has produced 27 all-conference selections, five individual conference champions, one conference golfer of the year and one conference rookie of the year
- Her student-athletes have earned 23 WGCA All-American Scholars honors and 15 all-conference scholar athletes/academic team honors
- Led the Pack to a No. 41 final ranking (Scoreboard Powered by Clippd) and the program’s 21st NCAA Regional appearance
- One NCAA Regional Champion (Marie Eline Madsen)
- 2023 NCAA Championship berth while an assistant at NC State
- All-SEC Team selection and 2004 SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year as a student-athlete at Alabama
Darby Sligh was announced as head coach of the women's golf program on January 10, 2023, following Page Marsh's retirement announcement. Sligh earned the head coaching role after spending the five previous seasons on the staff as assistant coach (2018-22) and associate head coach (2022-24). She enters her fourth year as the head coach and ninth season overall at NC State ahead of the 2026-27 season.
Sligh is coming off a memorable third season as the head coach. The Wolfpack finished the season with a No. 41 Scoreboard ranking and the team’s fourth NCAA Regional appearance in the past five years, logging a tie for fourth at the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional. Sligh led the Pack to its first match play appearance in program history at the ACC Championship after the Pack carded an ACC Championship program-best 12-under 852 (284-283-285) to finish fifth in a competitive field. Sligh also guided NC State to seven top five finishes, the most in a season in school history, and broke an 18-hole record of a 275 in the first round of the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational. Sligh also led the team to a win for the second consecutive year, marking the first time that has happened since 2017-18.
The 2025-26 squad featured a young lineup composed of four underclassmen. Marie Eline Madsen played another marvelous season, leading the Pack with a school-record 70.88 scoring average with three wins, seven top 10 finishes and 10 top 20 showings. She was named a unanimous All-American for the second straight season (WGCA Second Team and Golfweek Third Team), as well as an All-ACC choice. Freshman Ellie Hildreth was a solid contributor to the Pack and became the fourth rookie in school history to win a tournament, becoming the individual medalist at the Briars Creek Invitational. Vania Simont, who played for Sligh all four years, ended her great career ranked No. 3 in career scoring average (74.20) and the record holder for career rounds played (120).
In Sligh’s second season at the helm, first full year as the head coach, she led the Pack to a No. 44 final ranking in the Scoreboard ranking, as well as the program’s 20th NCAA Regional appearance. The team earned its first win since 2017 with a program-record tying 17-under 847 (280-282-285) at the Daniel Island Invitational. Sligh also led the Pack to five top five finishes, the most since 2013-14, and top 10 showings in nine of its 11 tournaments.
Under Sligh’s leadership, Madsen burst onto the collegiate scene, earning All-ACC Women’s Golf Team recipient and unanimous All-American recognition. Madsen broke the single-season scoring average record (71.23) and won two tournaments, including the NCAA Charlottesville Regional. Her regional win was the first in school history and she punched her ticket to the NCAA Championship, marking the first time the Pack had sent an individual to nationals since 2008 and sixth time an individual or the team was represented at the event. Lauren Olivares Leon continued to make some noise in her senior year, finishing as the school record holder in career scoring average and (72.75) and becoming the first NC State golfer to earn an invitation to compete at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Madsen received an invitation the following year in 2026 and became the first NC State women’s golfer to earn an invitation to compete at the Arnold Palmer Cup, doing so for Team International.
After taking over the helm midway through the 2023-24 season, Sligh led her team to four top 10 finishes, including a runner-up finish at the Briars Creek Invitational and a sixth-place finish at the ACC Championship, which marked the Pack’s best finish at a conference championship since 2017. Olivares Leon was tabbed an All-ACC Women’s Golf Team selection, the first for NC State since 2017, while she and Isabela Amezcua qualified for the NCAA Bermuda Run Regional.
During her first 2.5 seasons as NC State’s head coach, the program has earned a combined 13 top five team finishes and 28 top 10 individual showings.
Sligh was a part of a historic 2022-23 campaign that culminated with the team’s first NCAA Championship berth since 2015. The team secured its best regional finish (second place) in program history on its home course, setting a postseason program record with a team score of 282 in the first round of regional action. The squad also tied its highest ACC Championship finish since 2017. During the regular season, Sligh helped guide NC State to a pair of 18-hole program records (278, -10) and a 54-hole tournament record (847, -17) at the ICON Invitational and was a part of coaching Olivares Leon to a win at the Briars Creek Invitational, the first individual victory for a member of the Pack in five years.
After helping the program earn its 17th NCAA Regional bid in the last 18 seasons in her first year as an assistant coach (2018-19), Sligh guided a squad that consisted of seven underclassmen to four top 10 team finishes and five top 20 individual finishes before the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly ended the 2019-20 campaign. Sligh helped lead the Wolfpack back to postseason play in 2021-22 with a team at-large berth.
Sligh was named the recipient of the 2020 Division I Golf Pride Grips WGCA Assistant Coach of the Year when she stepped up for the program during a difficult time. At the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Colorado on Sept. 25, 2019, Coach Marsh had to leave the final round of the tournament when her husband, George Tarantini (former head men's soccer coach at NC State), unexpectedly passed away. Sligh stepped in and coached the team by herself to a ninth-place finish and the second-lowest score of the semester. She seamlessly took over all head coaching and operational duties for the final two tournaments of the fall.
Prior to her time in Raleigh, Sligh served as the head coach at Illinois State for 11 seasons (2007-18). Sligh demonstrated the ability to produce championship-caliber success. While at Illinois State, she led the Redbirds to five Missouri Valley Conference championships, along with five automatic NCAA Regional berths and four consecutive MVC Coach of the Year awards (2008-11).
Sligh managed to produce success on the course and in the classroom, as her teams consistently turned in the best GPA among the Illinois State athletics department and one of the highest among the NCAA. During her tenure as head coach, her student-athletes earned 23 WGCA All-American Scholar honors, 18 All-MVC selections, nine MVC All-Scholar Athlete choices, five individual conference champions, one MVC Golfer of the Year and one MVC Rookie of the Year.
Prior to Illinois State, Sligh was the head coach at Newberry College for two seasons. In her two years at the helm, she led the program to the 2007 South Atlantic Conference championship, won league coach of the year honors (2007) and had six players named to the All-SAC team.
Sligh played at Alabama from 2002-05 and was the team’s co-captain all four years. She had nine top 10 finishes, including two wins. She had an impressive list of collegiate honors and athletic achievements with the Crimson Tide. She was named to the All-SEC Second Team following the 2003-04 season, and from 2002 to 2004, Sligh was an All-SEC Academic honoree. In 2004, Sligh was named the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Sligh also earned a degree in sport psychology from Illinois State and has Level 2 certification from the Titleist Performance Institute.
