Michael DeCourcy on his favorite Final Four memories, why he’s retiring from The Sporting News

Michael DeCourcy is synonymous with college basketball. He loves the sport so much that he once paid his own way to cover the Final Four for work.

The 2026 national semifinals and championship game in Indianapolis will be his last as a full-time senior writer for The Sporting News. DeCourcy, 65, will be stepping down from that role, but you’ll probably still hear his college basketball insights. He’s a Big Ten Network studio analyst and predicts the tournament bracket for Fox Sports.

We caught up with DeCourcy to discuss his retirement and Final Four memories.

Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Awful Announcing: Why are you retiring from The Sporting News?

Michael DeCourcy: “At this point, I’ve done a lot of what I hoped to accomplish in my career, and things I honestly never imagined I’d get the chance to do in my career. My wife and I moved back to Pittsburgh two years ago after having been away for 32 years. It’s our hometown, and our families live here. It’s a chance to spend more time with my wife.”

What does that mean to you?

“Several years ago, I was lying in bed and started doing the math on how many days I’ve been away from my wife while traveling as a sports journalist. At that point, the time I came up with was five years of our marriage, which have been spent with me on the road. She’s been very gracious about that, and certainly, it was worth it in terms of what the career demands and what I wanted to accomplish and all that. We’ve made the most of our time together, but I think now an opportunity to spend pretty much every day with her is going to be a blessing.”

Does being retired from The Sporting News mean you’ll continue to do your other jobs?

“I’ll maintain some sort of role with The Sporting News. We haven’t settled exactly what yet. I use the word emeritus as a catch-all. I will continue to administer our All-America basketball team. We are one of the four entities that contribute to the NCAA Consensus All-America Team. And there’ll probably be some March coverage involved. We haven’t settled on anything. I hope to continue doing the work that I’ve done with Fox and BTN. Obviously, it’s always their call, but certainly I remain very much interested in continuing there.”

Why will your final full-time assignment for The Sporting News be the 2026 FIFA World Cup?

“When my wife and I moved back here, and I made the decision to continue working, I looked at that as kind of a great target date in terms of the amount of time. I still felt like I had a few more years of full-time work left in me. I thought how cool it would be to go out covering the planet’s biggest sporting event, something I’ve grown to love over the last 35 years.”

You wrote about your favorite Final Four. Why was Duke winning in 1991 at the top of your list?

“I wanted to be around the game and that year in 91. At the Pittsburgh Press, where I worked, there was a recession, and they told me they wouldn’t have the budget to do the Final Four. So, I said to them, ‘Well, if I pay for the trip, would you count it as workdays and let me do the coverage and print it?’ They said, ‘That sounds like a good deal.’ So, I went, and there was a little bit of freedom. I wasn’t on anybody else’s dime. I felt an artistic freedom, so I appreciated that element. There was the improbability of Duke’s victory, the drama of Bobby Hurley making his big shot, and the fact that it was in Indianapolis.”

What cities are on your Mount Rushmore of Final Four sites?

“The best Final Fours are in Indianapolis because I lived in Indy for 10 years and really appreciated my time there. There’s no place that gets the sport better than the state of Indiana and the city of Indianapolis. San Antonio has been awesome, and I’m glad they found a way to make the Alamodome work for that. It was an old-style dome, and people wondered if you could do that, but it works there. I would probably say New Orleans. They’ve also made the Superdome better over the years. And I have also loved our trips to Minneapolis. I would like a little bit more springtime weather than some of the winter weather that sometimes creeps in, but it’s a beautiful city.”

Any unexpected celebrity sightings at the Final Four?

“The best one was at the ‘95 Final Four in Seattle. UCLA was playing Oklahoma State that day. I was in the press room before the first game. I was sitting at my computer, looked to my right, and saw Jack Nicholson. There was nobody around him. ‘Jack Nicholson’s in the press room? He’s fair game.’ I went up. I introduced myself. Just asked him why he was there. Obviously, an L.A. guy, L.A. team. He was there to see the Bruins. He was very pleasant and very cooperative. The chance to do that was really cool.”

What’s your best guess on who will be the next North Carolina coach?

“I hope it’s Billy Donovan because I’d like to see Billy back in the college game. I think he was great for the college game. One of the things I’ve loved about dealing with Billy is that he had every reason to be arrogant if he wanted to be. He’s good-looking, he’s been unbelievably successful, a Hall of Fame coach with two national championships. He could be, if he wanted to be, somebody who’s difficult to deal with, but instead, he is the nicest person on the planet.”

What’s your Final Four prediction?

“I had Arizona at the start of the tournament, and that’s the only Final Four team I have left, so I’m not going to contradict myself. Obviously, I think there are ways they can be beaten, but I think they’re the most complete team here. I think the Wildcats will play Illinois for the title, and I think they can handle that.”

If you could, what’s the one thing you would change about the Final Four?

“That there should never be more than 68 teams at the start of the tournament. Expanding the tournament for no good reason, when the public clearly doesn’t want it, and the networks asked to fund it clearly don’t want to, is an absolutely horrible idea. The people campaigning for it should be ashamed because they either don’t care or don’t understand why this event is what it is. They should care, and they should understand.”