John Roddick has been hired as the OU men’s tennis coach at Oklahoma.

The brother of former U.S. Open winner Andy Roddick was hired Friday to take over the Sooners team guided by Paul Lockwood for the past 22 years. It will be his first time in charge of a college team, although he has been an assistant coach on Georgia teams that won the 2001 national title and finished second the following year.

Since 2002, he has been operating a performance boarding academy for tennis players in Austin, Texas.

“It is rare to find someone with a background as impressive and varied as the one that John brings to OU,” athletic director Joe Castiglione said. “He has been a fixture in the national junior program, has experience in two successful Division I programs, has coached the game at the highest level in the world and was an accomplished player in his own right.”

Roddick has also helped coach his brother Andy, formerly the world’s No. 1 player and still ranked in the top 10.

“John not only is my brother but also has helped guide me throughout my career,” Andy Roddick said. “His enthusiasm for collegiate sports is unparalleled and he has a wealth of knowledge to share with these kids.”

The Sooners (12-10, 1-5 Big 12) ended their season with a loss in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. Oklahoma has not finished higher than fifth in the Big 12 since the conference was formed prior to the 1997 season, and the school’s last league title came in the Big Eight in 1992.

Roddick inherits a practically new indoor facility in the Gregg Wadley Tennis Pavilion, which stopped the team’s practice of traveling nearly 30 miles to Oklahoma City to find indoor courts when the weather turned bad.

“They’ve made a commitment on the facility side of the tennis program that is amazing,” Roddick said. “I won’t have to spend a lot of time convincing recruits that we’re worth a look. It’s a huge leg up.”

Roddick was a four-time All-American at Georgia from 1996 to 1999 before spending the following year as an assistant coach at Florida State. He then returned to his alma mater and spent three seasons as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs, a national powerhouse that has won six national championships — most recently in 2008.

“I like to keep players calm and clear in their thinking,” Roddick said. “Every day is an opportunity to go out and work on something, and I am very big on the fundamentals. When players are disciplined in those areas their confidence grows because they’re not making silly mistakes any more.”

“I think the players will be excited to train that way. The one thing you can control is the process of getting better. After that, the results take care of themselves as long as the players compete as hard as they can and that’s something that will be emphasized in our program,” he said.

-AP