NC State basketball head coach Kevin Keatts unexpected early beginning of the offseason already has a task: finding a new assistant coach.

Takayo Siddle, who has been a longtime assistant to Keatts, will be hired as the new head coach at UNC Wilmington, a source confirmed. CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein first reported the news. Siddle takes over a UNCW program which went 10-22 overall and 5-13 in the CAA.

Siddle's relationship with Keatts began when he played for Keatts at Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military Academy, and then he coached as an assistant for him there.

When Keatts became a head coach at UNC Wilmington in 2014, Siddle, who had spent four years as an assistant at his alma mater Gardner-Webb, was one of Keatts’ first hires. Siddle then came with Keatts when the latter accepted the job at NC State in the spring of 2017. Siddle had tried for the UNCW job but the Seahawks hired C.B. McGrath, the former North Carolina assistant coach.

Siddle will be the second assistant off Keatts’ original staff to become a head coach. A.W. Hamilton, who replaced Keatts as head coach at Hargrave, spent one season at NC State before being hired as the head coach at Eastern Kentucky. Hamilton was named the Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year this spring. He led the Colonels to a 12-6 record and fourth-place finish in the league.

Keatts replaced Hamilton with Roy Roberson, a former high school coach. Siddle’s departure leaves James Johnson as the lone holdover from Keatts’ original staff.

The Wolfpack went 20-12 this year, including 10-10 in the ACC. It was set to play Duke in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament before the event was cancelled.

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