Kris Stewart is the newest addition of theBrenau University coaching staff. As he joins the Golden Tigers basketball team for the first time this year, he also prepares for his debut season as a collegiate head coach.

Stewart replaces Gary Bays, the first coach of the five-year-old Golden Tigers team, who resigned at the end of the 2010-2011 season after the team finished with a 13-16 won-loss record in the NAIA.

From 2000-2002, Kris served as assistant coach at Austin College in Sherman, Tex. He then moved to basketball-crazy central North Carolina, where he guided the Forbush High School Falcons to five straight playoff appearances and a 74-42 record during his time at the helm from 2002-2007. Stewart was named the Mountain Valley Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, in 2002, in his first year at the East Bend, N.C., school. For the past year, Kris has held the position of assistant basketball coach at the NCAA Division II Lees-McRae College, while also taking on the role of director of instructional technology on the college's education faculty.

The Atlanta-area native graduated from Duluth High School in Gwinnett County, and later earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Lees-McRae, located in Banner Elk, N.C. He then completed his Masters in Education from the University of Missouri in Columbia. In addition to coaching, Stewart has acquired some other impressive titles on his resume, such as director of residence life and associate dean of students at the college.

"I know that Brenau is definitely the right place for me and my family," Stewart said. "The newness of the basketball program appeals to me. The team is very young, but very talented. The program has a solid foundation and needs the right person with the right personality to continue building. I believe that my approach to teaching the game will be beneficial to helping this team grow."

"The conference has a number of talented teams and experienced, veteran coaches," Stewart continued. "I'm looking forward to the competition."