Michael DeBates

Michael DeBates enters his ninth year at the University of South Carolina in 2024-25. He serves as Assistant AD/Communications & Public Relations working with men’s basketball, as well as men’s and women’s golf. DeBates has also worked with men’s soccer (2016-2018) and football (2019-21) during his time with the Gamecocks.

He handles all publicity efforts internally and externally for the men’s basketball program, as well as implementation of digital strategy. Head coach Lamont Paris won 2024 SEC Coach of the Year thanks to a record-breaking season in 2023-24 that culminated with a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. He was also one of four finalists for the 2024 Naismith National Coach of the Year Award.

While working with football in 2021, DeBates was part of a communications staff that won a Super 11 Award from the Football Writers Association of America, presented annually to the best performing College Sports Communicators departments in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The team won the Duke Mayo’s Bowl that year in head coach Shane Beamer’s first season.

DeBates won South Carolina Athletics’ Teammate of the Year in 2021-22, which is an annual employee of the year award voted on by all athletics staff. He helped lead the media coordination team for the first and second rounds of the 2019 NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship, hosted by South Carolina at Colonial Life Arena, which featured two No. 1 seeds in Duke and Virginia.

In addition to his daily duties, DeBates also serves as tournament director for Birdies With Beamer, the annual media golf outing that takes place at the end of July.

Prior to his arrival in Columbia, he spent two seasons working in the NFL as a full-time communications intern with the Indianapolis Colts from 2014-16, where he aided the public relations office with all day-to-day efforts. The team won the AFC South in 2014, winning a pair of playoff games to advance to the AFC Championship. While in Indy, DeBates also worked for the NFL PR staff at Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Ariz. and the annual NFL Scouting Combine in 2015 and 2016. He also volunteered for the National Basketball Retired Players Association at the 2015 Final Four, which was held at Lucas Oil Stadium, helping escort talent to various VIP events.

A native of Sheldon, Iowa, DeBates graduated from Iowa State University in 2014 with a bachelor of science degree in journalism and mass communication. While in Ames, he worked four years as a student assistant in the athletics communications office, serving as the SID for the wrestling program his last two years.

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