CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson has hired Steve Smith as an assistant men's basketball coach, ending a nearly two-month search since Rick Ray left to become Mississippi State's head coach.

Coach Brad Brownell hired longtime Virginia Tech assistant James Johnson for Ray's spot in April. But Johnson returned to the Hokies as their head coach shortly after Seth Greenberg was fired.

Smith spent the past three years as an assistant at Georgia Southern. Before that, he was an assistant coach at USC Upstate from 2002 through 2009.

Brownell was happy to have Smith on board and said he's got plenty of recruiting ties in the Southeast that will make him an asset to the Tigers.