West Monroe High School has found its new baseball coach, and it's a homecoming story that Rebel fans are sure to love.

Following the retirement of longtime skipper Wade Simoneaux—who led the program for 12 seasons and captured two LHSAA state championships—the school announced Friday that former assistant coach and West Monroe graduate Jon Michael Kidd will take the helm of the Rebels program.

Kidd brings a strong baseball pedigree to the job. He played collegiately at the University of Arkansas at Monticello and Louisiana Christian College, and his deep roots in the program made him a natural fit. In fact, Simoneaux himself recommended Kidd as a top candidate to succeed him.

"I think he's a good young man that could handle it," Simoneaux said of Kidd when announcing his retirement. "I would back and support him 100% as a part-time sounding board for him if he wanted it."

Kidd inherits a team that posted a solid 25-10 record last spring, though the Rebels fell short in the Division I non-select postseason. With a familiar face now at the helm and a roster hungry to build on that success, West Monroe baseball appears poised for a strong new chapter.