DEMOREST, Ga. – Piedmont University has announced Matt Williams has been selected to lead the men's tennis program as Head men's tennis coach. He joins Piedmont in this new role after working as a volunteer assistant during the 2020-21 season with the Piedmont tennis teams.
Williams has had multiple stops along the way in his career with experience across the north Georgia footprint. Most recently, he joined the Piedmont staff as a volunteer assistant over the last year helping the men's team to an 8-11 record and the women's team to a 16-6 overall mark.
"I am very grateful for the opportunity to lead such a historically successful team as the Piedmont Lions," Williams said. "After working with these dedicated student-athletes in a limited capacity last season, I am excited to see how high we can set the bar for expectations and success as a program. I want to thank Coach Peeples for trusting me to guide this storied program into the new era of Piedmont University athletics."
Williams' career began at Southern Wesleyan University in Central, South Carolina as the Assistant Men's and Women's Tennis Coach. He helped guide the men's team to the 2014 Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament (NAIA) in the first season of participation within the league.
He returned to the peach state joining UGA in the 2014-15 season as a graduate manager for the women's tennis program and was a volunteer assistant women's tennis coach in 2015-16 for the Bulldogs. In the summer of 2017, Williams boasted the title of interim women's tennis assistant coach while also serving as the women's tennis program specialist from 2016-2018. During that time, Williams spearheaded the video analysis and tennis analytics of match-day footage, prepared the budgets, assisted with scheduling and served as a recruiting coordinator.
Williams spent the 2018-19 season as the Assistant Women's Tennis Coach at the University of Delaware before returning to the south to serve as the Assistant Men's Tennis Coach at Georgia State during the 2019-20 season which was cut short due to COVID-19. While at Delaware, Williams helped recruit and sign the highest ranked prospect in school history (#53, TennisRecruiting.net) and helped lead a 2019 ITA Ann Lebedeff Leadership Award Finalist (one of four finalists for all of college tennis, including NCAA Division-I, NCAA Division-II, NCAA Division-III, NAIA, and Junior College).
"We are excited to have Matt join our staff to lead this group of student-athletes," Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Jim Peeples stated. "His work during the spring with our programs was indicative of his passion for coaching and we believe he's equipped to help guide the men's tennis program to further success both in the conference and in our region."
Williams has multiple years of experience around the tennis camp circuit including working both the Jeff Wallace Bulldog Tennis Camp and Manny Diaz Bulldog Tennis Camp at the University of Georgia. He has also coached at the Nancy Harris Tiger Tennis Camp at Clemson and the UCLA Billy Martin Tennis Camp.
He has also given back across the globe joining Mercer on Mission during 2010 in Mozambique, Africa and has worked in partnership with the Oyebog Tennis Academy in Cameroon, Africa to collect used tennis equipment and apparel to aid in the development of life and tennis skills of the local children.
Williams is a 2012 graduate of Mercer University with a bachelor of science in Chemistry. In 2016, Williams graduated with a Master's in Kinesiology from the University of Georgia.
