COLON — Robbie Hattan greets every single student coming into Colon junior and senior high school at his post every morning.
Moving forward, he will be able to greet those students as an administrator for the school system. Hattan, the football coach and facilities manager, was hired for the position pending confirmation by the Colon Board of Education at their next meeting in May. He takes over for current AD Noah Dooley, who will be moving on from the district after taking another job on the east side of the state at Bay City Western High School where he will be the athletic director and assistant principal.
Hattan returns to Colon after a hiatus at Battle Creek Pennfield. There, he was the school’s football coach after being at Colon for several years.
Dooley’s final day at Colon will be May 30, he starts at Western on June 2. He’s still the track and field coach for the Magi and the MHSAA state finals are May 30.
“That’s the date of the state meet, where I hope to go out on a high note with the athletes who are fortunate enough to make it,” Dooley said. “Colon has been an impactful place for me and I’m grateful for the things I’ve experienced here. It hurts to move on from the athletes and coaches we have here. I’ve established so many great relationships with them and I know I’ll carry those close for a long time. I’m proud of the work I’ve done in my tenure here and I wish Colon all the luck going forward.”
Coming back home was an offer Hattan said he wasn’t able to pass up with his family still living a couple of blocks from Colon’s football field. His family is still involved in sports and the community of Colon.
“I don’t think we ever fully left. We still have roots planted here,” Hattan said. “The situation had me leave, but I think it was God’s plan to help me grow. Now I think I can be a better version of myself. To come back, it was a no-brainer. It was just an offer I could not refuse because it made so much sense for my family, which has always been priority No. 1 for me.”
Hattan said he has been chasing his dream for 17-18 years as a coach. He loves being dad to his three children and now with being back at home, he can spend more time with them as well.
There will be some work to be done when it comes to being the football coach again. He knows it and so do the members of the Magi community, but together they want to re-build a program the community can be proud of every day. A big challenge, Hattan said, will be rebuilding relationships with students and athletes.
“Some may feel like I left them when they needed me the most and I’m looking forward to re-building relationships and working together with everyone,” he said. “We want to have that winning culture again, to be contending for state championships every year. But with the Magi football program, we also want to do things for our community so they can be proud of us, too.”
The community has embraced his return as well. Hattan said he’s spoken with several people throughout Colon who are excited for his return.
“Everybody has been welcoming, I’ve had plenty of sit-down conversations with people and they are excited I’m back and ready to get to work,” he said.
Being involved in the school will continue to be high on his priority list. Hattan said it’s harder to be a kid today than it’s ever been with social media and the dynamics of growing up. But he’s back to help as best he can with his smile and attitude, which he feels resonates with the students at Colon. He is walking back into a situation where nearly everyone knows him and he feels being willing to help is a positive for the community.
“I want kids to know they’re not alone, they can always come and talk to me if they need to,” he said.
Hattan led the Magi to the school’s only state football championship in 2019. Colon beat Suttons Bay 26-14 inside the Superior Dome on the campus of Northern Michigan University then. The 8-player football championships are still played in Marquette.
Colon went 12-15 during Hattan’s tenure at Pennfield. The Magi were not able to qualify for the playoffs in either of those three seasons.
“I don’t want any school to out-work us, in any sport,” Hattan said. “They might be better, they might have more talent, but we wanna work our hardest. I want to re-instill the workman’s mentality where we bring our lunchpale to work every day and do our best.”
Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at bwatson@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BwatsonSJ.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: He’s back — Robbie Hattan returns to Colon as football coach, new AD
Reporting by Brandon Watson, Sturgis Journal / Sturgis Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
