The first time Alex Dickey attended games in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, he was left in awe by how such a large event was conducted so smoothly.
It was 2021, and the team manager for the Iowa men's basketball team entered Indianapolis filled with excitement. He had experienced regular-season tournaments and conference championships before, but March Madness was something much different.
Dickey traveled with the Iowa men's basketball team to Indianapolis in 2021 for the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. (Photos courtesy of Alex Dickey)
"Seeing how that all was pulled off was awesome," Dickey said. "It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever gone through."
Nearly three years later, Dickey had the opportunity to help with planning the tournament as the NCAA Division I men's basketball postgraduate intern. By the time the 2024 tournament in Phoenix rolled around, he was a full-time member of the NCAA staff, working alongside the people he admired so much.
Dickey always wanted to work in basketball, but growing up, he thought it would be as a coach instead. His dad and uncle were both in the coaching profession.
When it came time to look at colleges, Iowa stood out to him because of the opportunity to be a men's basketball team manager and work alongside a Division I coaching staff.
"If I could recommend everybody to be a manager, I think that is the perfect job for people to do before they get into sports because you learn everything and see how everything operationally works," Dickey said.
Dickey was a manager for the Iowa men's basketball team during his five years as a undergraduate and graduate student.
After four years as a student manager and another year as the graduate head manager, Dickey was introduced to the NCAA Postgraduate Internship Program by Thomas Deatsch, a former intern who worked with Dickey at Iowa and is now an assistant director in the NCAA women's basketball department.
The Division I men's basketball internship seemed like the perfect opportunity for Dickey to keep learning about the inner workings of college basketball.
Using the guidance of Deatsch and referrals from the Iowa coaches he worked under, Dickey earned the internship. After moving to Indianapolis in June 2023, he immediately hit the ground running by helping to plan and execute the College Basketball Academy in Memphis, Tennessee, just a month into his internship. Dickey recalls the experience as "trial by fire" but credits the fast-paced environment as offering a valuable lesson.
Two months later, a full-time opportunity opened in the Division III unit of men's basketball. Hesitant to apply at first, Dickey was encouraged to go after the position by his teammates and was awarded the coordinator position the following month.
"I think that was a good lesson for me because being a team person, I've always just thought about putting the team first every time," Dickey said. "At some point you do have to think about yourself and prioritize what makes sense for you, and it'll work out eventually."
Even though he was no longer an intern, he still was able to carry out several duties that came with the position, like planning a tour for the national championship trophy, revealing the Men's Final Four logo and planning the annual student-athlete brunch held every year at the Men's Final Four.
When the 2024 Division I men's basketball tournament rolled around, Dickey saw once again what made March Madness run so smoothly — this time as a member of the NCAA men's basketball staff.
"I thought that I knew how to work hard, but then you come here and you see these people work and it's like a different level of hard work," Dickey said. "I think that's why March Madness is as awesome as it is, because the people here work so hard."
Dickey shares a moment with members of the 2024-25 Division III Men's Basketball Committee: St. Norbert Athletics Director Cam Fuller (left), former Baruch men's basketball coach John Alesi (third from left) and Penn State-Altoona men's basketball head coach David McGreal.
Today, as he continues to work as a coordinator for Division III men's basketball, he credits the opportunities he had as a postgraduate intern for preparing him for any moment.
"The experience I got as an intern is 100 times better than any book that I ever read or any lesson that I ever was taught in class," Dickey said. "So the more experience you can get and the more lessons you can live through yourself, the better."
