Mike DeCourcy: “It Was Like Being Given a Ticket to Heaven.”

Press Box Access: A Sports History Podcast

Mike DeCourcy puts us courtside with tales from his distinguished career covering college basketball for nearly four decades. He tells us about the greatest game he ever covered and the first machine he ever filed a story on. Mike gives insight from time spent with coaches such as Mike Krzyzewski, Bob Huggins, Nolan Richardson and Skip Prosser. We discuss how national narratives follow certain people and programs. And we get a dose of college football as Mike recalls working the Penn State beat when Joe Paterno was at the height of his power.

DeCourcy, a member of the United States Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, is in his 37th season of covering college basketball, including 29 seasons for The Sporting News. He’ll be working his 34th Final Four in 2024. Mike has been a studio analyst at the Big Ten Network since 2010 and an NCAA tournament bracket analyst for Fox Sports since 2020. His career began in 1983 at the Pittsburgh Press, where he spent the next 10 years. Mike then moved to Memphis at the Commercial Appeal (1993-97) before joining the Cincinnati Enquirer (1997-2000).

While working in Cincinnati and Memphis, DeCourcy also served as college basketball columnist at The Sporting News, beginning in 1995. He joined The Sporting News fulltime in 2000. Besides college hoops, Mike also writes frequently about the NFL and soccer in his role as senior writer. He writes magazine-length features, enterprise, analysis, and covers breaking news.

DeCourcy is the author of two books: “Legends of College Basketball: The 100 Greatest Players of All Time” and “Inside Basketball: From the Playgrounds to the NBA.”

Mike was born in Pittsburgh and graduated from Point Park University there in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication.

You can follow him on X: @tsnmike

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