BUTLER TWP — Baseball has been a big part of Todd Erdos' life.

Now the Cranberry Township resident plans to make the game enrich the lives of others.

Erdos, 36, a former major-league pitcher, was hired as the Butler High baseball coach during Monday night's school board meeting.

He succeeds Dave Florie, who resigned at the end of last season after posting a 57-43 record over five years, including three WPIAL playoff appearances.

"I really feel fortunate walking into a program this size that has been having success. My hope is to expand on that success," Erdos said.

A Meadville High School graduate, Erdos was drafted in the seventh round by the San Diego Padres in 1992 and spent 16 years in professional baseball. He posted a 2-0 record, two saves and a 5.57 earned run average in parts of five big-league seasons with the Yankees, Red Sox and Padres.

Also spending time in the Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers farm systems, Erdos' final year of pro ball was with the Long Island Ducks in an independent league in 2007.

"From there, I wanted to get into coaching," he said. "I want to help other players benefit from my experiences in the game."

Erdos applied for the head coaching position at North Allegheny in 2008. After that school hired Andy Mattix as coach, Erdos was offered a position as NA's pitching coach and he accepted.

He coached with the Tigers solely in 2008, has no other high school coaching experience and applied for no other prep coaching position until the Butler opening.

"My employment status was uncertain after that 2008 season and I didn't feel like I could commit to that (North Allegheny) program any further," Erdos said. "I had to take care of my family first."

Butler athletic director Bill Mylan said that the combination of Erdos' major-league experience and year of coaching high school "was the major selling point to us."

"Anytime you can get a professional player to coach that sport ... that alone is pretty attractive," Mylan said.

Erdos returned to school and earned his bachelor's degree in technical management/accounting from DeVry University in March 2008. He's been a medical sales representative with Elizur since June 2009.

He admits to having concerns about his inexperience coaching the high school game.

"I don't know the ins and outs of the high school system, rules regarding player eligibility, things like that," Erdos said. "I'll educate myself in those areas.

"But I know baseball and how to teach it. I can help players at the high school level and those who want to play beyond high school," he added.

Erdos, who doesn't have a teaching certification, joins Jim Rankin (football) and Matt Clement (basketball) as Butler head coaches who neither teach in nor work for the Butler School District.

"Jim and Matt are retired. Todd, of course, has another job and it's always a concern whether that will interfere with where we want to go with our program," Mylan said. "Todd has assured us that won't be an issue.

"As far as eligibility issues and things along those lines, I'm here to help with that. I have no concerns there," he added.

Erdos' father, Tom Erdos, is a Butler graduate and a 1983 inductee into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame.

"It's a privilege being able to coach in the town where my father grew up," Erdos said. "I'll adjust my coaching style to the type of players we have.

"If we have a lot of team speed and should play small ball, we'll do it. If we've got power, we'll utilize that, too."

Erdos hasn't named his coaching staff. He plans to use a combination of people he knows and coaches who have been part of Florie's staff.

"I know there's been good people involved with this program and I will be talking to them," Erdos said.