NATCHEZ — David King sure has made the most of an opportunity.

Eleven years ago, King inherited the Trinity football head coaching job because, as he says, “nobody else wanted it.”

Trinity was in crisis mode 11 summers ago when then-coach Paul Hayles resigned less than two months before the season started.

King, who was an assistant football coach and head basketball coach, watched as coach after coach said no thanks to the job opening.

After hearing several rejections, Trinity turned to King to lead the program, and the Saints have never looked back.

“The job basically fell into my lap because nobody wanted it,” King said. “I was very close to the group of seniors we had that year and really wanted the job. I felt like it would be a good move because I already was an assistant and I really wanted to coach the seniors.”

It turned out to be a good move for King and the Trinity football program.

King has led the Saints from the doldrums to the mountaintop, taking a team that was 3-27 in his three years as an assistant coach to state championships in 2001 and 2006.

King said turning around the program is not just about talent, but also about hard work.

“We just work harder than people,” King said. “I think I’m a very average football coach but I think there’s nobody that works harder than we do as coaching staff.

“The kids take that same mindset. They believe they can do extraordinary things even though they’re average. You’ve got to make a kid believe he can do extraordinary things.”

It has been a quick 11 years for King, who never would have thought he’d still be on the Trinity sidelines.

“I never envisioned coaching at the same program for this many years,” King said. “Always when I was younger I had visions of being a AAAA coach. But Trinity has been a blessing. It’s been like a family to me and my wife.”

King, who has four children in school at Trinity, says he can’t see himself going anywhere else anytime soon.

“I’ve had tremendous offers in the last five or six years that would be dream jobs to a lot of people,” King said. “But I feel so at home at Trinity. I can’t explain it to be honest.”