Football: ‘Homegrown kid’ Bobbit named new Palatine coach

Palatine is staying home.

The school announced Friday that Chad Bobbit, a 2010 graduate of Palatine and current varsity assistant coach, will become the 17th head coach in school history.

“It really is a dream come true,” Bobbit said. “My dad started coaching here 28 years ago, so, really, this has been the dream for the last 28 years. For somebody who's been mentored by people who believe in all the history and traditions of the people who have come before me, it's definitely a huge advantage for me and I hope I can do service to what they've shown me.”

Bobbit was a four-year football, baseball and track athlete at Palatine. In football, he was named to the MSL all-conference team and awarded the conference’s defensive player of the year.

After graduating college from the University of Illinois, Bobbit came to Palatine as a special education teacher. He also began coaching football for the Pirates and has been involved in the program for the past 11 years. He spent six years as an assistant or head coach of the JV team and five years at the varsity level working with the defense, special teams and the offensive line.

The Bobbit family is synonymous with Palatine football.

Chad’s dad Kevin was an assistant coach and teacher at Palatine. Chad’s brothers J.T., Cody and Jesse also starred at Palatine. Jesse is currently the defensive coordinator for Iowa State’s football team.

Chad Bobbit said that sense of community growing up in Palatine is something that he will stress to his players.

“Since we moved here when I was going into first grade, it has always been such a wonderful community,” said Chad Bobbit, who lives in Palatine today with his family.

“The support I've gotten even through these couple months process has been really truly special. We're trying to build fundamentals and learn the game of football. And probably most importantly, more than anything, is the love of the game of football. I mean, it is the greatest game in the world, and you want kids to love it and learn about it and share those experiences with their families and their friends.”

Bobbit takes over from Corey Olson, who led the Pirates for the past nine seasons. Olson compiled a 53-36 record during that span, and his teams have qualified for the playoffs the last five seasons.

The Palatine head coaching position was one of the more sought positions in the state. Palatine athletic director Luis Arroya said he had many applications, but Bobbit’s stood out over all the rest.

“He is a teacher first,” Arroya said. “That came shining through in his interview. He wants to always put his number one job as a teacher first. That's huge for us to know that he's going to be an education-based leader of our men and our coaches. He really just shined through with his attention to detail and is super organized. That's just started getting us excited about naming him and in this moment in his career, was the right choice.”

Arroya said having a kid from the neighborhood in charge of his football program at Palatine was also something special.

“Chad, to me, is a homegrown kid,” Arroya said. “He knows the tradition and he knows the hallways in this place. He has seen it from a kid on the outside. He has seen it from a kid on the inside. He has seen it from the teacher’s perspective. We are very excited to have him leading our program.”