SAN ANTONIO (USBWA) – Zach Osterman, whose coverage of Indiana University basketball this season included the departure of coach Mike Woodson, a highly-scrutinized search for his replacement and a failure to reach the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, has been named recipient of the Jim O’Connell Award for excellence in beat reporting by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.
The award will be presented at the annual awards luncheon at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio River Walk at 11:30 a.m. central time on Monday.
“Zach has covered a high-profile beat with authority and doesn’t let any angle escape him, whether it be through feature writing, analysis or breaking news,” said USBWA president Stu Durando. “He was prolific in documenting the Indiana coaching situation, which consumed much of the season.”
IndyStar sports editor Nat Newell recognized Osterman’s versatile abilities.
“As the job of a college beat writer becomes more and more demanding while requiring a wider variety of skills in the changing NCAA sports landscape, IndyStar is lucky to have Zach Osterman on the Indiana beat,” Newell said. “His full gamut of skills was on display in a demanding season as the Hoosiers fell just short of an NCAA tournament berth while also dealing with a coaching change. Zach is deeply deserving of this honor and we appreciate the USBWA recognizing his great work.”
An Atlanta native and 2009 Indiana University graduate, Osterman has covered Indiana athletics for multiple outlets, starting with the Indiana Daily Student, since 2007. He has been IU Insider for The Star for more than 11 years. Osterman has been a part of award-winning investigations and event coverage, and a contributing member of several APSE triple crown-winning sports sections.
His reporting has included wider trends and issues in college sports in recent years, including the rise in athlete transfers, name, image and likeness reform and the intersection of sports and business, and more. Osterman lives Bloomington with his wife, Audrie, and two sons he describes as “delightfully rambunctious,” Jackson and Eamon.
The Jim O’Connell Award was created by the USBWA in 2019 to honor the late national college basketball writer for the Associated Press after his passing in 2018 at the age of 64. O’Connell served as president of the USBWA in 1997-98 and was inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame in 2002.
Later that year O’Connell was awarded the Curt Gowdy Print Media Award for lifetime coverage of basketball by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He covered every NCAA Men’s Final Four from 1979 through 2017. His coverage of the 2015 event took place soon after he underwent surgery that included a partial amputation of his leg.
The late Terry Hutchens of CNHI Sports Indiana, who had covered Indiana basketball for the Indianapolis Star, was the first recipient in 2020. He was followed by Mike Waters of the Syracuse Post-Standard in 2021, Emily Giambalvo of the Washington Post in 2022, Geoff Grammer of the Albuquerque Journal in 2023 and Mike Jensen of the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2024.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 800 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Malcolm Moran at 814-574-1485.