Mitchell Corcoran Joins Pitt On SI

PITTSBURGH — The city of Pittsburgh has always had a special place in my heart.

I've watched three Stanley Cups hoisted, two Super Bowl victories and I've even watched the Pirates win a postseason game, all in my 22 years of life. Those are impressive numbers for a mid-market city with only three professional sports teams.

But it isn't just the sports. As a Johnstown, Pa. native, visiting Pittsburgh for the first time was out of this world. The city had the big fancy skyscrapers, lights everywhere and people always out and about. It was everything that my hometown wasn't, and I always relished the opportunity to visit.

It was so special that fifth-grade me wanted nothing more than to move to Pittsburgh and go to school at Pitt when I got older. My infatuation with the city was strong, but that fantasy never happened, or at least not yet. I'd still like to move to the city sometime soon, but as I grew older, I knew that attending Pitt was never in the cards.

That's because I grew up in a Penn State family. Although I was enamored with the idea of moving to a city and going to school there, I knew deep down that I would end up at Penn State someday, and I did. And it was the best experience of my life. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life after high school, so I went to Penn State Altoona to study marketing. I always wanted to work in the world of sports, but I didn't know if I could make a career out of it or what the right avenue was to take. So, I decided to take a leap of faith at the end of my freshman year and switched my major to journalism after never taking a marketing class or writing a news story.

Penn State football's Beaver Stadium on Saturday, August 2, 2025, in State College. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

There was only one journalism class offered at the Altoona campus, so I didn't get much experience until after my sophomore year when I wrote a feature story on Altoona's oldest softball player for the Altoona Mirror. I owe a big thank you to Neil Rudel for helping me kickstart my sports journalism career.

When I transferred to University Park for my junior year, I used that story on my application to join Onward State — Penn State's student-run blog. Thank you to Keeley Lamm, Joe Lister and the other editors at that time for giving me a chance.

I started writing almost daily between my school work and my work with he blog. In the spring, I started covering the men's volleyball team and got my first taste as a beat writer. I got a crack at going to a few football practices later that spring and after some long nights and hard work, I was blessed with the opportunity to join the Penn State football beat for my senior year.

Those six months of covering Penn State football changed my life forever. I fell in love with the grind of covering a collegiate football program. I finally found my true passion. I found a job where I could wake up every day and be excited to go to work.

I was obsessed with going to weekly practices, media availabilities and, of course, the games. I loved telling stories about the players and coaches and nerding out about statistics and other football anomalies. All while making great friends and unforgettable memories along the way.

So, when I graduated in May, my primary goal was to find a job where I could cover college football as a career. And thankfully, I found Inside the Panthers. I will now have the opportunity to advance my career and continue learning and developing as a journalist by covering Pitt Athletics full-time.

I want to thank Dominic Campbell and Noah Strackbein for this opportunity to continue to grow as a writer and advance my career. This opportunity means the world to me, and I'm ready to give it my all. I also owe a big thank you to Jim Hammett over at Panther-Lair for helping me reach this point in my young career.

Even though I'm a Penn State guy, I'm so incredibly excited for the opportunity to cover Pitt. I'm excited to learn more about the university, the athletic programs and the passionate fanbase. I will work tirelessly to provide the best coverage I can, and I hope to learn a lot along the way. Let's get to work.

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