He worked in or covered Pennsylvania politics for nearly three decades, serving most recently as bureau chief for the online news service Capitolwire.com.

DeCoursey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, attended William Penn Charter School, and graduated from Yale College in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in English language and literature.

[1] He worked as a political reporter and columnist for The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania from March 1997 to 2005 before being hired by GovNetPA to produce original news content for Capitolwire.com,[3] where he became bureau chief.

[4] Mark Bernstein, a lifelong friend, recalled DeCoursey's explanation for becoming a journalist after being a political insider: "He said being a press secretary was all about not saying everything you know.

Veteran Philadelphia Inquirer editor and journalism professor at Pennsylvania State University Gene Foreman agreed, noting that the book deal was not disclosed and that the two columns seemed "particularly personal" and contained "pretty extraordinary" language.

[1] As a hobby, DeCoursey led a group of volunteers who performed statistical analysis of Philadelphia Phillies games for the company STATS, Inc. in an early form of what is now called sabermetrics.