Renowned sportswriter bids farewell to journalism

Longtime respected sportswriter Kyle Tucker said goodbye to journalism on Friday, calling it “the toughest decision of his life” after a 21-year career.

Tucker is well-respected in the industry and a talented storyteller at that. No one covered the John Calipari era at Kentucky better, especially in what ended up being the finality of the legendary coach’s time in Lexington. Tucker was unafraid of taking Coach Cal to task for the shortcomings and failing to meet expectations when one-and-done no longer appeared to be working in the NCAA (and college basketball’s current state).

While essential to journalism, this critical approach can be rare when covering high-profile programs and coaches. However, it made Tucker such a valuable asset during his 13 years covering the Wildcats, the last five with The Athletic.

Prior to that, he covered the Tennessee Titans and spent seven years each reporting on Kentucky sports for The Courier-Journal and SEC Country, and Virginia Tech football for The Virginian-Pilot.

But in his final story, Tucker returned to his roots. He wrote about Willie Cauley-Stein, the former Kentucky star, who quoted Tucker’s post about the article on X, “Appreciate the love you put into this, Kyle! Couldn’t see myself giving the story to anyone else.”

It would be Tucker’s final story in the industry, which he said Friday is something he didn’t want to share with Cauley-Stein originally.

While details are scarce, Tucker did mention an exciting new opportunity outside journalism that was too good to pass up. We await further news on his future endeavors.

UPDATE : Tucker shared Friday afternoon that he’s joining Elevate Sports Ventures as their Story Director.

[ Kyle Tucker ]

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