After searching and interviewing for more than a month, Troy athletic director John Hartwell announced on Thursday that the men’s tennis team had a new head coach.

Scott Kidd, who served as the women’s team assistant from 2010-13 at Clemson, will take over the program at Troy replacing Eric Hayes who guided the program for 11 years.

Kidd has a successful coaching background including coaching in three consecutive NCAA tournaments and winning nine national championships.

Possibly Kidd’s strongest asset is his highly regarded talents as a recruiter, his 2012 class at Clemson was ranked eighth in the country by TennisRecruiting.net

In nine seasons as both an assistant and head coach at Auburn-Montgomery, Kidd led the women’s team to five consecutive NAIA National Championships and helped the men’s team to the title in 2010. He was named NAIA National Coach of the Year five times while at the school. Kidd coached the women’s team for six seasons with serving as the men’s head coach for his final two seasons.

“Coming to Troy is great for me in two ways,” Kidd said. “First of all, being raised in Elba, it’s a great chance to get back close to home. Also, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to be a head coach again.

“I can’t wait to start the process of getting the men’s program back into the ITA rankings. My goal is to have the team back in the top 50 in two years, and with the facilities and resources at Troy that is a very real possibility.”

Hartwell says he is very pleased with the hire.

“Scott has been a winner throughout his career and we are looking forward to him bringing that winning mentality to Troy,” Hartwell said. “The proof is in the results when it comes to Scott as he has won at every level he has coached.

“He had a tremendous amount of success at Auburn-Montgomery and then proved he could make the adjustment to Division I tennis with his move to Clemson. We are excited to welcome Scott and his family to the Troy Family.”