A Game-Changing Education

Most students in college feel unsure of their futures. Even those who come away with successful careers have felt the pressure.

Mike Mazzeo ’10, a Brooklyn Nets beat writer for ESPNNewYork.com, was feeling that way not long ago.

The Warren, New Jersey, native began his Drexel career in the fall of 2005, majoring in sport management. A lifelong fan who’d dreamt of a career in sports, he couldn’t pass up using Drexel’s co-op to gain industry experience in a major sports city.

But he hit a roadblock during his first co-op search when his options dwindled. Running out of places to turn, he fell into a chance at sports writing at The Triangle, Drexel’s student newspaper.

“I always had a passion for sports, but I wasn’t a sportswriter at first,” Mazzeo says. “It definitely took some time, some tender love and care, and I ended up loving it. I was really passionate about it.”

Soon, he was hooked. The Triangle was a start, and it led to co-ops at Comcast SportsNet (CSN) and the Philadelphia Daily News that solidified his love for sports writing.

“Mike was one of those guys we refer to as first-ballot CSN intern hall of famers,” says Brian Schiff, the producer who hired Mazzeo to intern for Comcast SportsNet’s Daily News Live. “He was really bright, obviously, going to Drexel. He was totally into it, and he was willing to do anything that was asked of him at any time.”

“The standard for getting in the paper is the same whether you’re an intern or someone who has been there for 30 years,” according to since-retired Philadelphia Daily News Sports Editor Chuck Bausman. “The reader expects a high level of writing, and that’s expected from the interns. We didn’t baby them. With Mike, right from the get-go it was like, ‘Whoa, this guy’s good.’”

Mazzeo used Drexel’s resources to continue improving. He and Triangle Sports Editor Brett Fischer started “Mazz and the Fisch Sports Radio” on WKDU. He tried out color commentary on women’s basketball radio broadcasts. He wrote and anchored “The Triangle Minute,” a minute-long video news segment.

“I always had a passion for sports, but I wasn’t a sportswriter at first.”

“I think back to it all whenever I do something now for TV because that was really the foundation. I got to learn on the fly, so I was definitely prepared,” Mazzeo says. “That’s a definite Drexel theme. I was prepared for a lot of things that I ended up being thrust into because I had done radio, I had written for places with credibility, I had done TV.”

After graduation, he wrapped up an internship at NJ.com, but no full-time opportunities presented themselves. What next? Move home? Grad school? There was that feeling again.

While weighing his options, Mazzeo received a call from a former NJ.com coworker. ESPN was starting a website for New York sports, and there was an opportunity to cover high school football.

Finally. A chance to focus his fire, his passion for sports. A chance to put all that time of trial and error at Drexel to the test. All while reporting on teams he idolized growing up in North Jersey.

Now 28, he’s worked his way up to covering the Nets full time.

“A lot of things I did at Drexel revolved around sports because that’s what I’ve always been passionate about, and all the avenues were right there,” Mazzeo says. “There are a lot of great journalism schools, and a lot of people I work with went to those schools, but personally I don’t think I would’ve ever done what I ended up doing if I went anywhere else but Drexel.”

It wasn’t a degree from a renowned journalism school that prepared 2010 graduate Mike Mazzeo for a career with ESPN. It was his time working for Drexel’s student-run newspaper, radio station and his co-ops in the industry that had one former employer saying, “Whoa, this guy’s good.”