Ruth Witmer, adviser for The Indiana Daily Student

Indiana University was rocked by a sports scandal this spring. The men's basketball coach, Kelvin Sampson, had come to IU under a cloud of recruiting violations. Now there were more allegations, denials and intrigues. The coach was forced to step down. The byline on many of the stories before, during and after Sampson's resignation belonged to Michael Sanserino. Michael and reporter Chris Engel covered this high-profile saga; it developed instantly into a story of national interest and the two basketball writers never flinched or missed a beat.

Michael isn't new to big stories: he served as sports editor at the IDS and oversaw the coverage of marquee teams at IU; He's reported on the university's legendary soccer team and IU's world famous cycling race, the Little 500. And he's covered the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.

Michael also has worked as a business and education reporter and will cover the police and courts at the St. Petersburg Times this summer. He is also an accomplished features writer and is the reigning Thomas Keating Feature Writing Contest winner. He has shot photos and video, and he is a prolific blogger.

Michael has always done an excellent job with his exceptional range of talents, and he has one more year to go as a college journalist: Michael will begin his senior year next fall as the Managing Editor of the IDS where he'll help shape the next generation of young journalists.

Chris Korman, sports writer / columnist for The Herald-Times

Mike Sanserino compares more than favorably to all of the young journalists I have known.

What I admire most about Mike is his fearlessness. The media corps covering IU sports is not, by most standards, tough. Mike stood out because he was not afraid to ask pointed questions of Kelvin Sampson, the since disgraced and now former Indiana coach. It got to the point that Sampson would repeatedly tell him, “I’m not going to talk about that, Hoss.” I can only assume Hoss was a derisive nickname.

What makes Mike stick out, for me, is that he is already such a strong journalist. So many people end up in this business because they like writing or enjoy a certain field (politics, sports) or are seeking some measure of fame. Mike loves journalism. He never fails to write to me or even call to discuss the front page of his paper, especially if he disagrees with the play of a story. He is passionate about his craft and embraces one of the aspects of newspaper journalism that I adore: the chance to be better every single day. (I hope this doesn’t make him seem un-interesting; he’s not.)

He does an incredible job of having intensity for his work but never letting it get in the way of his personal relationships. He’s already engaged and friendly with everyone on the beat. He is a pro and a good person.

Allie Townsend, colleague at The Indiana Daily Student

Mike has spent most of his life infatuated with newspapers. As a kid, he collected papers from our local hometown newspaper in Fort Wayne, Ind., that he put into a scrapbook. (His mother still has it; it's adorable). He has known this is what he was meant to do since then. In high school he made waves with an investigative piece on high school recruiting methods -- all of which were totally illegal. Who could have imagined a well done investigative piece done by a high school student? He did. He has never stuck to age constraints.

In college, Mike and I both started work on the student newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student, during our first few weeks. He excelled right away. I remember a conversation with the sports editor who read through one of his first articles. He said he had to edit less with Mike than he had with staff members who had been there for three and four years.

Source | The Indiana Daily Student
University officials will announce Friday the fate of IU men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson, IU trustee Phil Eskew Jr. said Thursday.

Source | The Indiana Daily Student
From atop the bleachers at Bill Armstrong Stadium, thousands of fans that attend the Little 500 bike races can see how well their teams are performing.

Source | The Indiana Daily Student
Not long ago, Todd Yeagley stumbled across a tape of the 1994 College Cup Championship game. He was in the IU men's soccer team locker room, looking for footage in the team's archives when he saw a copy of his last game as a college soccer player. He had never watched the game before.