Matt Hatton was perfectly comfortable as the McDaniel coach. After all, 2015 was his ninth season as the program's head coach, he had spent three previous years as the Green Terror's defensive coordinator, and he earned his master's degree from the college in Westminster.
But with his wife Carol commuting from their home in Manchester to her job as the athletic director at Roland Park in Baltimore for the past two years, Hatton said he couldn't turn down an offer from Archbishop Curley to fill the vacant athletic director position there.
"I felt like it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up," he said. "Yes, it was hard. This past year was my 12th year at the school. I had spent three years as a graduate assistant, and I got my master's there. So I had relationships with a lot of people in the institution, but the hardest part for me was leaving the kids and telling the kids and the families. I'm an emotional guy at times, too. So having those conversations was a challenge. I think the kids were surprised that it happened because I wasn't actively pursuing different opportunities. It just worked out that this opportunity came about, and we felt like it was the best fit for our family."
Hatton, who said the family is moving to Baltimore, said he was offered the job in early April and tried to keep it under wraps so that it wouldn't distract the team. But as word began to filter out at Archbishop Curley, Hatton decided to inform the players during the week leading to the regular-season finale against Ursinus before they heard it elsewhere.
With the Friars, Hatton will be in charge of supporting the school's coaches rather than being one. But after attending the Roland Park softball team's 16-15 win against St. John's in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association C Conference tournament final on May 9, Hatton admitted that hanging up the whistle may be more difficult than he imagined.
"I'm not a softball guy, but we get there and they're playing the music and the hair is standing up on the back of my neck," he said. "That's me in a nutshell with athletics. … I love being around athletics. So I don't know the answer until we get there. I'm clearly going to miss being in the trenches with the guys."