The North Idaho College volleyball team will start the season with its fifth coach in six years.

Miles Kydd, who coached the Cardinals to a sixth-place finish at the NJCAA tournament in 2013, was relieved of his duties on Friday after a meeting with athletic director Al Williams.

Williams said he "wanted the program to move in a different direction."

"All of our coaches are on annual contracts," Williams said. "We review each coach at the end of the year and decide whether or not we're going to bring them back. "We met and decided we weren't going to renew his contract for this year and thought it was best to let him know early instead of late, so this will help with recruiting and also returning players know there will be a coaching change."

Williams notified the team of the decision on Monday.

NIC went 18-12 in Kydd's lone season at the helm, with a runner-up finish at the Region 18 tournament after upsetting defending national champion Southern Idaho in the semifinals.

Williams, along with assistant coach Kelsey Stanley, will oversee the volleyball operations while the search for the next coach is conducted.

"She'll be taking over the primary responsibilities for right now," Williams said. "I'm the interim coach, but Kelsey will be helping out with all the training and individual practice schedules."

"We'll do a search, but with him being paid through the terms of his contract, that might delay how soon we start it. I want to get someone in here as soon as possible so that we'll know what we have as far as recruiting goes."

Kydd, 53, was a member of the Eastern Washington volleyball coaching staff for nine years, and was 57-60 as head coach before resigning due to personal reasons early in the 2012 season.