Last fall, Nate Mahon was coaching the Little Miami High School football team through its first playoff appearance in 27 years, and the road just happened to take him back to his alma mater at Hamilton High School.
It ended there with a loss to Winton Woods in the Division II regional semifinals Nov. 9.
About a month later, the Big Blue gave him the opportunity to come back, this time not just as a visiting coach. Mahon was named Hamilton’s head football coach Dec. 18 to replace ousted coach Chad Murphy, but more than six months later, he’s just finally begun settling into the new job and facing the reality of what coaching at his alma mater means.
“It didn’t really hit me at first because I was basically working two jobs all winter and spring,” said Mahon, whose last day in his position as principal at Little Miami was June 15. “It finally hit me at a football golf outing we had June 23rd. It was well attended, and there were a lot of people I hadn’t seen for a while, a lot of people that were back and wanted to support the team. People were talking about the upcoming season and asking what it’s been like being back. Certainly, with each passing week, as we’re getting closer to (fall practices) the reality is coming. I don’t want to disappoint people, and I want to put a good product out, but it takes time and we’re going through the process hopefully the right way to put a good product out there.”
Every coach wants to succeed, but coaching where he grew up adds an even greater sense of responsibility to turn things around. Hamilton hasn’t had a winning season since 2010 when the Big Blue went 7-4 and last qualified for the playoffs.
That last playoff appearance is the only time Mahon recalls attending a Big Blue game since graduating from the school in 2003. He’s been coaching most Friday nights when Hamilton has been playing, but that year he was a defensive graduate assistant coach at the University of Cincinnati and a recruiting assistant and he had a chance to go see Hamilton play Colerain.
Hamilton’s woes over the years escaped him for the most part while he was busy with his own career, but that playoff game still serves as a reminder of what could be.
“I always had an idea what was going on and wanted to see them do well but never got into it and understood why they were winning or losing and whatnot,” Mahon said. “In 2010, I went to their playoff game at Colerain, and it was well-attended from the Hamilton side. There was a lot of excitement there, and that’s a vivid memory, thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this is my first time back as a fan.’ Hamilton loves their sports and loves a winner, and if you can turn it around they will support you. I just hope I can get it turned around. They are craving a winner, and I’m hoping we can provide that.”
Mahon, who graduated from Miami University, said this was the first time he felt the situation was right for him to return to Hamilton. He spent three years at Little Miami, following a three-year stint at Northwest, and he also coached previously at Central Dauphin East High School in Harrisburg, Pa.
Murphy resigned Oct. 30, just four days after the 2018 finale, after posting a 14-46 record over six seasons. He did not have a winning season during his tenure, going 1-9 in his first and last seasons with a best record of 5-5 in 2016. The highest finish for Big Blue in that time was a three-way tie for fifth place in 2015.
When the job opened up, Mahon was just beginning the playoff run with Little Miami, as the Panthers enjoyed one of their most memorable seasons in program history. At the time, he refused to speak to anybody about anything other than Little Miami football until after the season. The Panthers hadn’t been to the playoffs since 1992 and had turned things around from a 3-7 finish in Mahon’s first season in 2016.
“We played our last playoff game there (at Hamilton) against Winton Woods, and it was surreal playing there,” Mahon said. “The stadium was beautiful, the hospitality was great, the new fieldhouse seemed amazing. It was weird how it kind of went full circle, but it was really neat.”
Mahon, 34, received numerous messages and calls of congratulations when he was named Hamilton’s coach, which provided reassurance he had made the right decision. It was “really tough” to leave Little Miami because of what he and the Panthers had built together in a short time – getting them to the playoffs was one of the best accomplishments of his career –, but the call to come home was an opportunity he couldn’t pass by.
Hamilton inducted him into its Athletic Hall of Fame earlier last year. Also a baseball player, he lettered four seasons for the football team, serving as captain twice, and led the Cincinnati area with 128 tackles as a senior. Mahon played two years at Georgetown College before walking on at Miami in 2005.
Upon returning to Hamilton as the new head coach, Mahon’s top priority was putting together a staff that would mesh well and align with the kids they would be mentoring. He spent the first six months focused more on building relationships than installing his system of play.
That began June 1, and the implementation of his offense and defense was well-planned out and fully developed with players ready to buy in because of the time spent getting to know the staff first. Mahon said the offense will be balanced between the run and pass, and the goal on defense is to play confident and fast.
“It hasn’t been easy,” Mahon said. “It’s a six-month process, but we’ve had great buy-in because of the relationship building.”
When asked if he has tried implementing anything he learned as an athlete at Hamilton, Mahon said that is the case with everywhere he’s been. His best memories from his playing days with the Big Blue included playing with his older brother, Nick, for two years and having his younger brother Chris a part of the experience as a ball boy.
“I’ve tried to do a good job taking things from every place I’ve been and I try to utilize that into a new Hamilton I’m trying to define,” Mahon said. “I’m passionate and excited every day I go to work because it’s the field I played on. I’m 100 percent invested because it’s pulling from the heart. It’s neat to go back there. Some days you don’t want to go in to work, but every day I pull in and see that stadium and start to feel something I haven’t felt in a while and you can only get that in one place. That’s home.”
On the first official day of fall practices as the Big Blue begins preparing for the opener Aug. 30 at West Clermont, Mahon will have the same message he delivered upon arriving Day 1.
“This is our program, our school, our city,” Mahon said. “They need to know they are playing for the whole city. Lots of programs are just township based or private-school based. Not many get the opportunity to play for what truly is their city. They wear the name on their chest. Having an eastside and westside to our city, we can be a catalyst to pull it together. You saw that in 2010, I experienced it as a player back in the day and hopefully I can give that experience to these kids as well. Hopefully they take that to heart and play a little better because of it.”