Life, for a young Matt McGloin, revolved around baseball, basketball and football. The youngest of three boys from Scranton’s West Side certainly paid his dues – older brothers, noogies, general roughhousing. Early on, his scrappy hometown burned into his mind a mantra that would carry him through good, bad, high and low — “You earn what you get, kid.”

He walked on at Penn State in 2009 and by the middle of the 2010 season, he was named starting QB. Matt finished his Nittany Lion career with quite a few accolades, though none greater than being known as the kid who showed up unannounced with a truckload of Scranton grit. (Also, for that 21-point comeback vs. Northwestern in 2010 – I’d like to personally thank you for that one.)

He proved himself again in the pros, clawing his way up from undrafted free agent to reliable back up QB for the Raiders, Eagles, Texans and Chiefs. After a brief stint in the ill-fated XFL, Matt returned home to Scranton. Today, you’ll find him analyzing from the sidelines at Big 10 games, delivering all things PSU on his podcast, or selling real estate. And, if you’re lucky, you might just catch this scrappy Irish kid from the West Side in his most-happiest of places – with his wife and two boys at a local park.

Or… at a chill, downtown coffee shop answering what many might call THE most important question – Why NEPA?

How long have you lived in NEPA?

Well, I’m 32. So, yeah. 32 years. Even when we were in Oakland or any other city, when the off-season came around, we moved back here. This is where I did all my off-season training. We rented everywhere else. We bought our home here.

What do you love about your town?

Again, the people. That’s the first thing that comes to mind. Then, of course, the food. I mean you can’t get better food anywhere else. Pizza, wings – that’s my kryptonite right there (laughs). I’m loving the craft beer scene here. It’s gotten so big. There are so many small breweries. I love the little coffee shops like this place (Commonwealth Coffee) – one of my favorites. What it really comes down to though, for me, the best thing about the area is how close I am to family. Like my parents yell at me if I’m not down in West Side every day, but I’m realizing that it’s not necessarily ME that they want to see. They just want me to bring the boys down every day (laughs).

What’s your favorite NEPA restaurant?

Oh come on, dude! Ok. Catalano’s… (broods quietly) No, no, I can’t say that. I can’t say just one. You know this is going to make a lot of people mad (laughs nervously). C’mon, there’s Catalano’s. There’s Carmella’s. We love Vincenzo’s, too. Rosario’s is great. There’s Colarusso’s. You get it yet? Revello’s. Um…

Ok. We get it, but tomorrow night is your last night going out to dinner and you get to pick. Where you going?

(Uncomfortably long pause) … I’m probably getting a Catalano’s hoagie. (laughs) I’m so sorry to everyone else. I did not like that question. Please let people know that I was sweating.

What’s your favorite thing to do in NEPA?

I do play a lot of golf these days. It’s been one of those things where I’m now starting to find out a lot about myself since I’m not playing football. And I really took to playing golf (laughs). When it comes to the boys, we love going to local parks and checking out different trails. Our 3-year-old just loves getting out to as many parks as he can. You know, one of the things we’ve really started having fun with as parents is looking out for new things to do. I feel like we might as well be members at the aquarium or DEFY (laughs). We just try to cast a wide net with our family.

We want our kids to get out there and experience everything the area has to offer. And I’m definitely not one to sit inside the house. So, if we ever have time to kill, it’s like, “Where we goin’? What are we doin’?” You know? We’re always looking for that next fun family thing. That also relates to a lot of the breweries in NEPA. It’s so cool how they’re really laid-back and family-friendly.

What’s next for you?

Well, of course, I love being a part of that football world. I do host my own Penn State Football podcast. We’ve built it up over the last year or so. We actually just did a live broadcast down at Funk Brewing in Emmaus. We actually have our own beer through them. It’s called Paydirt IPA. It’s named after our show – Paydirt. And doing the podcast has been awesome. We break down the games and do previews and stuff, but we also have a lot of former players on. They like to talk about where they’re at now in life and some of their best memories at Penn State. So, it’s been cool to reconnect with some of these guys and to meet all these older players. That’s been great.

I’m also doing some analyst work with the Big 10 Network, which is a lot of fun. And I’m a real estate agent with Lewith and Freeman. That has been an incredible place to work.

Where do you see NEPA heading in the future?

Hmm… You know what? That’s kind of a tough question, too. We’re growing, especially here in Scranton. And I’d love to see it continue to grow. I’d love to see even more new businesses in the area. I’d like to see our population of young people grow. Our local colleges and universities have been doing a great job getting people ready to go to work. And we’ve seen so many new businesses coming to the area over the past few years. And I think people are realizing that everything they need is right here – great jobs, good healthcare, great places to live.

I want to see us continue to keep moving in that direction. I want to see people that not only want to stay here, but I want to see people that want to move here and make something of their lives here. I know firsthand what this area can give you – what it can teach you. And I’m not trying to pat myself on the back (laughs). I got to the highest level of my profession because I was from this area. It taught me so much. It made me who I am. Everything I needed for success in life came from right here.

Why NEPA?

It’s home! It’s as simple as that. That’s not a difficult question to answer. There’s just something about this area that grabs a hold of you and doesn’t let you go. And I want to live in a place where I wake up happy every day. Why fight it? I’ve lived in a lot of places in my career and loved them all for one reason or another, but none of those places were home.