For the past 20 years, Craig Coughlin and John McCormac have been broadcasting high school and youth sports in Woodbridge. But the familiar duo wearing headsets on the sidelines at Woodbridge, Colonia and JFK High are known more for their high profile day jobs. Coughlin is the speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly and McCormac is the former New Jersey state treasurer and the current mayor of Woodbridge. When the headsets go on, the business of politics and government take a back seat to breaking down the keys to victory and spotlighting the kids battling on the court.

“For both of us, this is just an awful lot of fun and something we love to do,” Coughlin said. “We’ve done football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, wrestling, swimming – the only thing we haven’t done is tennis.”

“How often do you get to call a game when a 1000 point scorer is in the game,” McCormac said. “The fact that the team did it at home and did it in a state tournament game just puts the icing on the cake of a terrific night.”

JSZ spent time with Coughlin and McCormac during their broadcast of Colonia’s 56-36 boys basketball state playoff win over Cranford. Watch our feature “From the State House to the Broadcast Booth”