CALIFORNIA -Matt Moulder was introduced as the new California Pintos basketball and baseball head coach Friday at the high school, taking over for Blair Scanlon in basketball and Jason Gatlin in baseball.
"It's a challenge, most certainly," Moulder said. "I like the opportunity to change things up and do two sports, and not being quite so tunnel vision, leading to a potential burnout."
He used Friday evening to meet his players in the two sports, and to figure out a plan for the rest of the summer.
The former Camdenton head baseball coach brings 20 years of experience with him, but has spent the last six years coaching just baseball for the Lakers. But coaching both sports isn't new for Moulder. He has 15 years of experience being a head coach in baseball and eight in basketball, and some of those years overlapped. At Leeton High School, he head coached both sports for three years.
"I was doing fall baseball, to winter basketball, to spring baseball, then summer-league basketball," Moulder said. "I did that for three years straight. I just got to the point where I was tired. I just wanted to focus on one sport."
Moulder said in the last three or four years he's really wanted to get back into basketball.
"My family's first love was basketball," Moulder said. "I've just had that itch to get back into it. I'm thrilled and excited to have the opportunity to do that again."
Three important reasons led to Moulder finding a new home in California. First his wife teaches and is working on her PhD at the University of Missouri, and the two household situation wasn't working. Second, he wanted to find a situation where he could coach both sports, and thirdly, the hire of the new principal, Sean Kirksey.
"I really wanted to find a situation where I can coach both sports," Moulder said. "In recent years I've just been doing baseball at a bigger school, but I wanted to get back into my coaching roots. I've spent the first 10 years of my coaching career coaching basketball."
Before his stint at Camdenton, Moulder was the head baseball coach at the School of the Osage and served as athletic director and baseball coach at Russellville during the 2006-07 season.
He also took Clearwater to the Final Four in baseball, and his last basketball head coaching job was during the 2004-05 season at Leeton.
Moulder is excited about the new field, saying it's a great way to generate interest in the program.
"It's a beautiful facility," Moulder said. "It has lots of benefits to it. It's awesome and I'm just amazed at the community support."