FERRIDAY — Former Trinity Episcopal baseball coach Matt Mason didn’t have to go very far to find a new place of employment. He just has to make a short drive across the Mississippi River bridge.

Mason, who was not retained at Trinity due to budget cuts, was hired as the head baseball coach at Huntington at Tuesday night’s school board meeting.

Mason will also become the school’s athletic director and defensive coordinator for the football team, as well as teaching some history classes at the school.

“I’m excited that Huntington gave me this opportunity,” Mason said. “I have two (daughters) here and wanted to stay in the area. I think it’s going to be a good opportunity.”

Huntington football coach Chad Harkins, who was the Hounds’ acting athletic director, said adding Mason is a great benefit to the Huntington athletic program.

“Matt is going to be a big help to us, no doubt,” Harkins said. “He’s a guy who comes from a lot of success at Trinity and hopefully he’ll bring that success here.”

Harkins said that another important aspect of the hire is that Mason will be a full time employee of the school and not just a volunteer coach.

“To have a guy like Matt be able to be a full time guy at our school is tremendous for us,” Harkins said. “We haven’t had a guy work at the school and be a coach in awhile. We’ve had some volunteer coaches and part time guys but we haven’t had a full time guy in a while. I think that’s a definite plus.”

With Trinity dropping down to Class A next year, the Saints and Hounds will be in the same district, which means they will play each other at least two times next season.

It’s something that Mason isn’t exactly looking forward to.

“No doubt, it’s going to be tough coaching against those kids (at Trinity),” Mason said. “I wish the best for those kids. You grow close to them, but my job is to win at Huntington now, and when I’m across the field from them, I’m going to do everything I can to win a game.”

Huntington has had a lot of baseball success in the past, appearing in six state championship games between 1992 and 2008 and winning the title in 1994, but the Hounds have fallen on hard times, posting losing record the past two years.

However, despite the recent lack of success, Mason thinks Huntington is in position to be successful again.

“I’m excited about it,” Mason said. “There are a lot of young kids there, kind of like what I started with at Trinity. There are a lot of good players that are young guys, and with a little hard work and time, we’ll assemble a good team.”