Coaches

Natasha Ademakinwa

Natasha Ademakinwa joined the Hornets on May 15, 2024. Ademakinwa comes to Delaware State University after being Shawnee State University's head men's coach for two seasons and head women's coach for six seasons. She also held an assistant athletic director, senior women leaders title.



A native of London, England, Ademakinwa was the 2024 Shawnee State Female Coach of the Year Award and the 2021 Mid-South Conference Coaching for Significance award winner.


Along with her college coaching experience, Ademakinwa has had a total of 22 years of coaching experience at various levels and has a UEFA National 'B' coaching license. She's collected eight division championships and four undefeated seasons as a coach.



In her first season as the men’s soccer coach at Shawnee State, Ademakinwa led them to its first-ever winning season with an 11-8 overall record. SSU men's soccer never finished above .500 in the first 31 seasons. Kevin de Lange received Second Team All-Conference and led the Bears' front line with an astounding 18 goals and nine assists, finishing fifth in the nation for total points. Thomas de Graauw earned Honorable Mention All-Conference for his play in the midfield. Leading the NAIA, de Graauw broke the school's record with 21 assists in 18 games and five goals as well.



In 2020-21, Ademakinwa led the Shawnee State women’s team to outstanding improvement, as the Bears posted an 8-7 overall record -- its first winning season since 2017 -- with only one senior on the roster. SSU posted a 5-6 overall conference record en route to finishing seventh in the 12-team Mid-South Conference -- which placed five teams in the NAIA Women's Soccer National Tournament.



Paige Alford and Alex Raudier combined to win three Mid-South Conference Player of the Week Awards. Goalkeeper Shelbie Ritchie received Second-Team All-MSC. Academically, Shawnee State fared even better. In all, a total of 11 players obtained All-Academic MSC honors -- the most for any women's soccer team in school history. Three players earned perfect 4.0 GPAs while eight of the 11 honorees finished with GPAs at or above 3.75.



Despite losing 11 letter winners from the 2018 team, Ademakinwa's group maintained a similar standing from the 2018 group in her second season at Shawnee State, collecting a 6-12 overall record with more than two-thirds of its contributors being freshmen or sophomores. Five of the 12 losses came by two goals or less.



Senior midfielder Olivia Ball played and started in all 68 games of her collegiate career and was named as a CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree, while Jill Kelly appeared in 67 of Shawnee State's 68 career games and was named a CoSIDA Academic All-District and CoSIDA Academic All-American.



Five of the team's top-seven scorers from 2019, including Paige Alford, Ellie Aston, Eilidh Mchattie, Nikki van Wees, and Brenna Woodard, returned to lead the team in 2020. Alford, Aston, Mchattie, van Wees, and Alex Raudier were all international student-athletes recruited to the team by Ademakinwa. They became the first set of women's soccer players to come from foreign lands to play for Shawnee State.



In her first season with the Bears, Ademakinwa led SSU to a 5-11-1 overall record, with six of those 11 defeats coming by just two goals or less. The Bears went 2-5 in the Mid-South by defeating Georgetown (2-1) and Pikeville (5-0), and dropped contests to Life (Ga.) and Cumberland (Tenn.) by scant 2-0 margins during the season. Michaela Garner, who ended her career as a four-year starter in goal for the Bears, saved 163 shots en route to Second-Team All-MSC honors in her senior season.



Under Ademakinwa, the Bears have flourished academically, as a record 10 players were named to the All-Academic Mid-South Conference unit with six of those 10 players -- another record -- named as NAIA Scholar-Athletes in 2018. Four additional players were named to the Academic All-MSC list in 2019.



The 2018 total is even more impressive, considering that only a dozen players were eligible to obtain those accolades. This means that 50 percent of the eligible hands on the roster earned NAIA Scholar-Athlete billing, with 83 percent of the eligible players on the roster obtaining the necessary 3.0 GPA to be eligible for All-Academic MSC accolades.



In 2022, she was also announced as soccer director and assistant athletic director as a senior woman leader.



Prior to her time at SSU, Ademakinwa was the head coach of the women’s club soccer team at West Virginia University. She led WVU to a 7-0-0 season, winning the NIRSA Region One Pennsylvania West Division Championship and qualifying for the NIRSA National Tournament. It was the first undefeated season in the club's history.



In addition to her college coaching experience, she was the head girls coach for the Millwall Lionesses, being head coach for the under-13 girls and assistant coach for the 15-under and 17-under teams from 2014-16. Five of the girls that she coached at Millwall were drafted to the England National squad and one to the Poland National team.



Ademakinwa spent two stints as a head boys' coach at Isledon Wolves Boys’ Football Club in London, coaching both under-8s and under-14s in parts of nine seasons; her original stint with Isledon was from 2006-10, with her second stint running from 2012-15.



With Isledon, she led the teams to championships in the Camden & Isledon League B Division two times and to a championship in the A Division once. She coached the teams to a championship in the Harrow Youth League Division IV, saw promotion to Division II, and later won a championship in Division II. This earned promotion to the Harrow Youth Premier League. She was named Isledon Wolves FC Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2015, respectively.



Ademakinwa was an assistant under-13 and under-16 coach at Queens Park Rangers Ladies Football Club in London in 2013. Prior to that, she spent one season as the head coach of the reserve team at Camden Town Ladies Football Club in London.



Ademakinwa also coached at Leyton Orient Girls Football Academy Centre of Excellence, coaching under-12s there from Dec. 2009 to Aug. 2010. Simultaneously, she was also an assistant boys' under-14 and under-16 coach at London Athletic Youth Football Club, coaching there from April 2009 to Aug. 2010.



Ademakinwa was the soccer coach at Hendon Women’s Football Club in London from July to Aug. 2008. She was also the under-12 and under-13 assistant girls' soccer coach at Hendon Youth Football Club from Jan. 2004 to Dec. 2006.



Ademakinwa’s first coaching experience came at the Camden Development Project, helping coach at-risk youths in under-11 and under-12 teams from Jan. 2001 to Dec. 2004.



Outside of coaching, Ademakinwa had a distinguished playing career, having played both collegiately in the United States and semi-professionally in England. Ademakinwa played one season at Ohio Valley University (W.V.), tallying one assist in 14 games in the 2010 season. Most notably, Ademakinwa played semiprofessionally for two London-based clubs, having played for AFC Wimbledon’s ladies' team and for Tottenham Hotspur Ladies Football Club.



From an educational standpoint, Ademakinwa has two bachelor's degrees. One was in Psychology with Health Science at the University of East London in 2009. She earned her second bachelor's degree in Sports Management from Ohio Valley University in 2012. Additionally, Ademakinwa earned a master's degree from West Virginia University in Coaching and Sports Education in 2018.



In Ademakinwa's spare time, she likes to play with her dog, Stella, hang out with friends, play her guitar, spend time with her family and friends back home in England, travel, and most importantly, devote time to God.