The last name Mangan is one that is well known to the Loyola Academy community. With four brothers having walked through the Wilmette school’s halls, all having played multiple sports, it’d be fair to say they’ve left a mark on the school. 

The fourth — and final — Mangan, Matthew, will leave Loyola as a two-sport athlete, having played both football and basketball his last two years at the school. His play on the football field helped him gain some collegiate looks, especially as his senior season went on. 

On Thursday, Jan. 30, Mangan made his official decision on where he’ll be playing football for the next four years of his life: the University of Dayton.

“Before the senior season, last football senior season, I loved Dayton as a school,” Mangan said. “I wasn’t a 100 percent positive that I was going to play football, so I was looking at other schools for non-football reasons, but then a been a couple weeks into the season I pretty much established I was going to play.

“It’s a great program, but on top of it, and almost more importantly, it’s an awesome school, awesome environment, it’s got a great program, awesome campus. So, when they offered me, I still needed some time to think, but I was confident that I made the right decision.”

The fact that Mangan wasn’t totally positive whether or not he would play in college may be a shock to some, particularly with the success he had the past two years, especially his senior season. 

But as two-sport athlete, that meant Mangan was splitting time in the summer between basketball and football, and not getting a chance to attend many of the recruiting camps that most players looking to play college football attend.

That didn’t matter to Mangan, however, because he loved the opportunity of playing for multiple Loyola teams.

Despite the Winnetka resident not knowing whether he’d play in college, he felt that he knew he’d have the ability and the talent to do it last year when he got in the starting lineup as the team’s tight end during its state-championship season in 2018.

While his stats may not have been eye-popping, playing alongside receivers like Artie Collins, Rory Boos and Jared Lombardi taught him a lot about playing the position.

“I was just helping, learning from them,” Mangan said. “At that point, I think I knew I had the skills to do something special with it and then I was just happy my senior year that I was able to go and be the guy and have the type of season I had to be able to establish myself to go play at a great place like Dayton.”

With that trio graduating and Collins off to play at Johns Hopkins and Boos at Colgate, the receiving group was officially Mangan’s and he was ready to lead.

“It was a great learning experience for me,” Mangan said. “I think I developed a lot as a person and that I just did to these guys what [Collins, Boos and Lombardi] did to me in my junior year. They showed me great things and I just tried to pass those great things on.

“They gave me a lot of confidence. Coming in I was a junior, I wasn’t the biggest kid. From the first film session we ever had as a team to the last, they were unbelievable to me. … After that happened, I was very appreciative of those guys, but I knew that now it was my turn,” he said.

Being the last of the Mangans to graduate from Loyola will be the ending of something special, the youngest mentioned. 

With all of his brothers having been athletes, they were all able to teach him how to handle playing multiple sports, as well as being a good student at Loyola. One of them, Michael Mangan, went on to have a successful college basketball career at the University of Rochester and Matthew was able to lean on him for advice in the recruiting process and how to handle everything he’d need to learn.

“It’s been amazing growing up in this family,” he said. “It’s going to be sad for the family to leave Loyola. I have one last basketball season. I think it’s been seven, six years of a Mangan being in the varsity Loyola basketball program. 

“So, that’s coming to an end, which will definitely be sad but it was an amazing time and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”