# John Feinstein, bestselling author and Washington Post sportswriter, dead at 69

Feinstein had filed a column for the Washington Post about Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo one day before his death.

John Feinstein, the longtime sportswriter and columnist for the Washington Post and a bestselling author, died Thursday.

Feinstein was 68 years old.

The Washington Post said Feinstein died at his brother Robert's home in McLean, Virginia.

Feinstein had filed a column for The Washington Post one day before his death about Michigan State head basketball coach Tom Izzo.

Feinstein's career at The Washington Post began in 1977, but it had nothing to do with sports at first. He was a night police reporter, but he "soon distinguished himself on the sports beat," according to the outlet's obituary.

"He covered a wide range of sports and developed a talent for deep sourcing that fed personality-driven and dramatic narratives about athletes, coaches and management," the obituary continued.

While working for The Washington Post, Feinstein was also doing work for ESPN, NPR, and the Gold Channel. He also had shows on SiriusXM.

Feinstein also wrote more than 40 books, including the bestselling basketball book of all time, "Season on the Brink," which debuted in 1986 after he took a full year off from his Washington Post gig to follow the  and their polarizing head coach, Bob Knight.

The book was a huge success, spending 17 weeks as the No. 1 bestseller after its release. And experts and casual readers alike loved how Feinstein didn't leave out a single detail about how Knight went about coaching his players during a season with an NCAA Tournament appearance but not a national championship.

The Hoosiers won Knight's third and final national title as head coach of Indiana during the 1986-87 campaign.

The book was eventually adapted into an ESPN TV film, premiering in March 2002.

Feinstein is a 23-time New York Times Best Seller who achieved the milestone of publishing his 50th book, "The Ancient Eight," which goes deep into Ivy League football. The book was released last year.

It was announced in November that Feinstein would join Longwood University as a broadcaster and teacher, providing color commentary for ESPN+ broadcasts of men's basketball games.

Feinstein's achievements have been recognized with numerous awards and inductions, which include the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame.

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Scott Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.
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