NC State Women's Basketball Coaching Staff
Last Game
LSU
Loss
73-80
Mar 28, 2025
2025 NCAA Women's Sweet Sixteen
Next Game
TBA
To Be Announced
Wes Moore
Head Coach
Since taking over the Wolfpack in April of 2013, Moore has posted an 112-52 (.682) record and led NC State to three NCAA Tournament appearances and postseason invitations each year. He has led the Wolfpack to a 51-29 (.637) record in ACC games, a league that consistently ranks among the top conferences in NCAA Division I basketball. Four of Moore’s five seasons have included significantly surpassing preseason league projections and three have concluded in fourth-place finishes in the 15-member league. All five of his seasons in Raleigh have been winning seasons, and four have included 20 wins or more.
Nikki West
Associate Head Coach
Nikki West returned to the NC State coaching staff as an assistant coach prior to the start of the 2020-21 campaign and was re-elevated to associate head coach ahead of the 2022-23 season. West previously spent five seasons (2013-14 through 2017-18) on the Wolfpack staff, and she rejoined the Pack after spending the 2019-20 campaign as an assistant coach for the Charlotte 49ers.
In her seven seasons with the Wolfpack, West has helped the program post a 166-59 overall record and an 80-31 record in ACC games. She's helped lead NC State to postseason invitations each year, including five NCAA Tournament appearances, Sweet 16 berths in 2018, 2021 and 2022 and an Elite Eight berth in 2022. With her help, the Pack has put together six 20+ win campaigns, four top-four ACC finishes, and five top-25 national finishes.
Upon returning to the staff ahead of the 2020-21 campaign, West got back to work with the Wolfpack's post players. She played a large role in the development of two-time ACC Tournament MVP, WNBA draftee and All-American center Elissa Cunane. That season, NC State repeated as ACC Tournament champion, went 22-3 (12-2 ACC) and finished the year with a Sweet 16 appearance and a program-best-tying No. 3 final ranking.
In 2021-22, West helped guide the Pack to its third-straight ACC Tournament title and its first regular-season and tournament crown sweep since 1984-85. In addition to reaching the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight for the first time since 1998, the team won a program-record 32 games and finished the year ranked No. 3 in the AP Top 25.
In her first season at NC State (2013-14), West helped the Wolfpack to a 25-8 record, a fourth-place finish in the ACC standings and an NCAA Tournament appearance. After an 18-15 campaign in 2014-15 and a 20-11 season in 2015-16, she helped lead NC State to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 in 2016-17 with an impressive 23-9 record (12-4 ACC). She also aided in authoring upsets of four top-15 teams throughout that season: No. 2/2 Notre Dame, No. 6/7 Florida State, No. 12/15 Duke and No. 9/7 Louisville.
During the 2017-18 campaign, West's final season in her first stint with the Pack, NC State went 26-9 on the year and won two NCAA Tournament games in Raleigh before advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 11 years.
West also worked closely with 2014 WNBA Draft picks Markeisha Gatling (first round) and Kody Burke (third round). During the 2013-14 season, she helped Gatling become the nation's most accurate shooter and helped the Wolfpack's star center achieve an 81 percent increase in scoring output from the prior season (9.6 ppg to 17.4 ppg).
Prior to following Moore to NC State in April 2013, she served on his staff at Chattanooga for nine seasons. That included six years as an assistant coach before she was elevated to associate head coach for her final three seasons with the Lady Mocs.
At Chattanooga, West played a key role in the team's seven Southern Conference titles and five NCAA Tournament selections. The Lady Mocs earned 25 First Team All-SoCon honors, five SoCon Tournament MVPs and 23 All-Tournament selections dating back to her first season with the program (2004-05). The team posted an overall record of 220-68 (.763) with West on the sidelines.
No stranger to the Atlantic Coast Conference, the former Nikki Blassingame was an All-ACC performer at Clemson from 1996-99. She helped the Tigers to four NCAA Tournament appearances and played in 126 career games.
Clemson won the program's first ACC Tournament title in 1996 when West was a freshman. The Tigers repeated that feat in 1999 when she was named to the ACC All-Tournament Team during her senior year. That 1998-99 squad won a school-record 26 games, reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and finished the season ranked 10th by the Associated Press.
As a senior, she started all 31 games while averaging 10.4 points and 7.9 rebounds. West graduated in 2000 with a degree in early childhood education from Clemson. She was a three-year member of the athletic department's Tiger Honor Roll.
West also previously coached for USC Upstate (2002-04), the Carolina Lady Flames AAU team (2002) and the junior varsity/varsity teams at Dorman High School (2000-02).
A native of Seneca, S.C., West led Seneca High School to the state championship her senior year. In June 2011, she married Marcus West, who is now an assistant head coach for the Buffalo Bills.
Ashley Williams
Assistant Coach
Wolfpack women's basketball alumna Ashley Williams (Class of 2017) made her return to Raleigh as an assistant coach on NC State's staff prior to the start of the 2022-23 season.
Williams joined the Wolfpack staff after spending the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons as an assistant coach at Indiana, which is where she also completed a two-year graduate manager stint (2017-19) immediately following her graduation from NC State.
Over the last two seasons, Williams helped the Hoosiers to some of the best results in program history. In 2020-21, her first year as an assistant coach at Indiana, the team reached the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in program history, went 21-6 overall and finished second in the Big Ten for the highest regular-season finish in school history. Williams was a part of the team's second-straight NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2021-22 as the team posted a 24-9 record. She helped lead the Hoosiers to the 2022 Big Ten Tournament championship game, their first such appearance in 20 years, and their highest-ever NCAA Tournament seed.
During Williams' time at Indiana, the Hoosiers were ranked in the Top 25 every week, including rising as high as No. 4 in the Associated Press poll this past season. She was instrumental in helping develop IU's guards, including the program's leading scorers in Grace Berger and Ali Patberg, who both earned All Big-Ten honors each of the last two seasons.
Perhaps most impressively, Williams was recognized as one of the WBCA's Thirty Under 30 honorees in 2020-21. She was honored among the nation's top up-and-coming women's basketball coaches under the age of 30 for exemplifying her involvement in community service, mentorship and impact on others, professional manner and attitude and professional association involvement.
After earning her master's degree in athletic administration from Indiana in the spring of 2019, Williams officially began her full-time coaching career as an assistant at Furman for the 2019-20 season. In her year with the Paladins, the program earned a fourth-place league finish, and Williams played a significant role in recruiting, scouting and in the development of Furman's guards. She most notably worked with Le'Jzae Davidson, who finished her career with the Paladins as the program's third all-time leading scorer, and Tierra Hodges, a SoCon First Team selection.
As a player, Williams enjoyed a well-rounded career at NC State during which she wrote her name into the program record book and was also heavily recognized for her accomplishments off the court.
She played in 117 games during her four years with the Wolfpack and earned the starting nod in 61 of those outings over her last two seasons on the team. Williams ended her NC State career ranked fourth in program history in career three-point percentage (.376) and sixth in career three pointers made (168). As a senior in 2016-17, Williams averaged 7.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists as a starting guard on an NC State squad that advanced past the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 years.
A native of Cary, N.C., Williams graduated from NC State in 2017 with a degree in industrial engineering. She was named the 2016 Kay Yow Scholar Athlete of the Year and was also a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree and a three-time All-ACC Academic Team member.
Kevin Leatherwood
Assistant Coach/Director of Player Development
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 second season on staff ahead of 2024-25.
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 Associated Press rankings and logged nine top 25 wins.
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 squad 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 a daughter Amiyah and a son Kai.
Kayla Jones
Assistant Coach/Director of Player Personnel
Kayla Jones (Class of 2022) returned to the Wolfpack ahead of the 2023-24 season to serve as the program’s graduate assistant. She is in her second season in this role and came back to Raleigh after spending the prior year playing professionally.
A native of Jamesville, North Carolina, Jones started her collegiate career at NC State in 2017-18 and used her extra season of eligibility to close out a decorated five-year career in 2021-22. She shot 47.6 percent overall (414-of-870) and 35.5 percent from distance (119-of-335) during her career and left NC State ranked in the program’s top 15 in three-point percentage and rebounds (734). Jones also ended her career with over 1,000 career points.
After stepping permanently into the starting five in 2019-20, Jones was considered the “glue player” for a Wolfpack team that won three-straight ACC Tournament titles, claimed the ACC regular-season crown in her graduate year and reached the NCAA Elite Eight in her final season on the squad.
Jones was a First Team All-ACC honoree in 2020-21 after being one of just three players in the ACC to average 11+ points, 7+ rebounds and 2.5+ assists on the year. With the Pack’s scoring attack spread out in 2021-22, she earned All-ACC recognition again after scoring in double figures in 12 games, dishing out 3+ assists in 13 outings and posting a pair of double-doubles.
Following the conclusion of her collegiate career, Jones was selected by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2022 WNBA Draft (round 2, pick 22).
She earned her undergraduate degree in Sport Management from NC State in May of 2021 and added a graduate certificate in Sport and Entertainment Venue Management in May of 2022. Jones is pursuing a Master’s in Liberal Arts while taking on this role with the Wolfpack coaching staff.
Houston Fancher
Assistant Coach/Director of Operations
Houston Fancher has completed six seasons as the Director of Operations and Player Development at NC State, approaching year No. 7 in 2024-25. Head coach Wes Moore announced the addition of Fancher to the staff on May 17, 2018, and he was promoted to an assistant coach role ahead of the 2023-24 season after the NCAA voted to allow two more assistants on Division I women’s basketball staffs.
In his first season as an on-court coach with NC State, the Wolfpack enjoyed a historical season that ended in the program’s first Final Four appearance since 1998, as well as a 31-7 record, a top four final Associated Press ranking and nine top 25 wins.
During his tenure in Raleigh, Fancher has been a part of helping the Pack to three ACC Tournament titles, the 2022 ACC regular-season crown, five NCAA Tournament appearances, five final top-10 rankings and a Final Four in 2024.
Fancher joined the Wolfpack after serving as the interim head coach of the Charlotte men’s basketball program from December 2017 through the remainder of the 2017-18 season. He was a member of the Charlotte 49ers coaching staff for a total of three seasons.
Prior to joining the Charlotte staff, he had 12 years of experience as a college head coach, including nine seasons as the head coach of the Appalachian State University men’s program.
While leading the Mountaineers, his teams won Southern Conference North Division championships in 2003, 2007 and 2008. He was named SoCon Coach of the Year in 2003. In 2007, he was a finalist for the mid-major National Coach of the Year award after guiding Appalachian State to 25 wins (school record), the San Juan Shootout title and a berth in the NIT.
Fancher also worked on the coaching staffs at the University of Tennessee (2009-13) and at UNC Wilmington (2013-14). He began his collegiate coaching career as an assistant at Division III program Maryville College from 1988-92. He then took over as head coach at North Greenville from 1992-95 before taking a position as an assistant coach at Vanderbilt for the 1995-96 season. From 1996-00, Fancher worked as an assistant coach (1996-98) and associate head coach (1998-00) at Appalachian State.
A native of Newport, Tennessee, Fancher earned an undergraduate degree in physical education from Middle Tennessee in 1988 and a master’s degree in educational administration and supervision from Lincoln Memorial University in 1990.
Fancher and his wife Cathy have two sons - Hayden and Ethan - and a daughter - Cameron. Cathy played college basketball at Maryville College when Moore was the program’s head coach. Houston and Cathy’s sons, Hayden and Ethan, both attended or currently attend NC State, and Ethan serves as a manager on the current team.