Assistant coach Napoleon Sykes has left Navy for a promotion and an opportunity to help a former mentor build a new program. 

   Sykes has accepted a job as linebackers coach at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, which will begin playing football in 2013. Brad Lambert, who was hired last March as the first head coach in UNC-Charlotte football history, announced the hiring of Sykes in a press release issued yesterday.

   Lambert spent 10 years as an assistant at Wake Forest under Jim Grobe, first as linebackers coach and then as defensive coordinator. Sykes played linebacker for the Demon Deacons under the tutelage of Lambert. 

   "We recruited Napoleon to Wake and he played linebacker and he's one of those guys that sat in my office and he knows how we want the players treated," Lambert said. "I saw him as a coach and a player and how he relates to players. He coached high school ball in Charlotte so he brings a lot to the table because of his coaching experience in Charlotte. He'll do a phenomenal job coaching our linebackers."

    Sykes served two seasons on the staff at Navy and assisted Tony Grantham with the outside linebackers. The Baltimore native got his start in coaching as an assistant at Gilman School, his alma mater. He worked as defensive coordinator for the semi-pro Bay Atlantic Sharks then transitioned to the same position at Mallard Creek High in Charlotte. 

    Sykes returned to Wake Forest in 2008 as the offensive graduate assistant in 2008 and defensive graduate assistant in 2009, working under Lambert in that latter role. 

     "Napoleon is a great young football coach who has a bright future ahead of him," Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo said. "We will wish Napoleon, but wish only the best for him and his career."