‘I love having him here’: The Hangey names lives on

By Benjamin Shinault

Rider wrestling runs deep within the bloodline of the Hangey family. The father, Head Coach John Hangey, who wrestled at Rider in the 1990s, was an All-American, and is now a current member of the Rider Athletics Hall of Fame. He is also entering his ninth season coaching the Broncs. 

The son, sophomore JP Hangey, was born with headgear and a singlet on. Now, both Hangeys are looking to continue the strong tradition of Rider wrestling and keep the family pipeline going strong.

‘He had no choice’

Growing up and having his father as a wrestling coach, the probabilities of JP escaping the hard-nosed sport was slim to none.

“I was three months old and I was in a singlet and I was wrestling by four years old,” JP said.

Coach Hangey, a young father at the time, purchased a singlet for his three-month-old son, and it was a perfect fit.

“I went to the high school nationals in Pittsburgh and I brought back a onesie that was a Mat Monkey singlet and it snapped right in the crotch,” Coach Hangey said with a chuckle.

A Pennsylvania native, Coach Hangey, joked, “You come out of the womb with headgear on in Pennsylvania.”

Whether his son aimed to be a wrestler or not, the wrestling coach wanted JP to give it a shot.

“He had no choice, he was going to be exposed to it. Whether he stuck with it or not, that was yet to be determined, but it was definitely happening early,” Coach Hangey said.

JP, coming out of Cherokee High School in Marlton, New Jersey, had a handful of offers to wrestle in college. Coach Hangey put his Rider bias to the side, and stepped in as a father trying to find JP’s next wrestling home.

“I didn’t want it to be a situation where he felt pressured into coming to Rider,” Coach Hangey said. “I went to all his visits, but I tried to be a dad as much as I could.” 

After visits to Long Island University, University of Pittsburgh and Drexel University — JP decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and wrestle for Rider.

When JP announced he was coming to his dad’s alma mater, Coach Hangey was elated. 

“I wanted him to make that decision,” Coach Hangey said. “I wanted it to come from him and once it did, I was ecstatic.”

‘We butted heads a lot’

Just because Coach Hangey and JP are father and son, however, did not mean that JP got special treatment.

“I’ll be honest, we butted heads a lot,” Coach Hangey said. “It was here that our relationship grew leaps and bounds because he respects the process.”

Coaching 43 guys can be tough to handle for Coach Hangey and his staff. Sometimes, JP meshes right into the rest of the team and is considered just one of the wrestlers.

“I’m trying to treat him like one of the guys and there are days when he comes in and we do not even talk,” Coach Hangey said. “It is not on purpose, it is just that I am busy with other things and he is busy with other things.”

One of the concerns that Coach Hangey had with JP coming to Rider was the fear that he would receive more attention over the other wrestlers, but that was not the case.

“If I spend all my time on him [JP], the guys are going to see that and that to me is very important that they do not perceive it that way,” Coach Hangey said.

From the point of view of both the wrestler and son, JP views having his dad as his coach as a plus.

“A lot of times it is easy because I have easy access to him, I can walk in [Coach Hangey’s office] and say whatever I want, but when I am wrestling, I can hear him say something to the whole room and I know he is talking about just me,” JP said.

Walking in his father’s footsteps

Coach Hangey was inducted into the Rider Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000. In his time wearing the Rider singlet, he was a three-time conference champion, an All-American and recorded 108 wins over the course of his wrestling career.

Now, flash forward to 2025, JP is entering his second season of wrestling for the Broncs and Coach Hangey is beyond proud to have his son wear the same letters across his chest.

“It is really hard to put into words, it really is,” Coach Hangey said. “The fact that he is experiencing what I did in his own eyes, in his own time … As a coach, you hope to coach your kid and when it becomes reality, it is really rewarding.”

Coach Hangey, being one of the more decorated Rider wrestlers in the history of the program, did have his fair share of losses. One of them came from his own son, just a few years later.

“Over the summer, we were having a freestyle match and I was winning on criteria 6-6 and he was on top and he was actually trying to snap my back in half, but I did end up winning,” JP said. 

Coach Hangey added his own two cents to the story. “I don’t take losing very kindly.”

Coaching wrestling might be Coach Hangey’s top priority, but with his son by his side, he is also teaching  JP life skills on and off the mat.

“I love having him here,” Coach Hangey said. “It is me molding him as an adult even on a deeper level right now because all of the things he is learning in the wrestling room are going to carry him forward to being a professional, being a husband, being a father. And to me, that is the best education I can give him.”