If you only know Adrian Wojnarowski as an NBA insider, Twitter newsbreaker, draft pick revealer and ESPN personality, then his final Woj Bomb — as his true but out-of-nowhere reports became famously known — may not make any sense.
The chaser: he is leaving to become the general manager of his beloved alma mater, St. Bonaventure University. There he will lead the recruiting and NIL efforts to help his good friend coach Mark Schmidt keep the proud Bonnie program relevant and eventually return to the NCAA Tournament.
“I’m thrilled and humbled to return to St. Bonaventure with an opportunity to serve the university,” Wojnarowski said in a statement.
Again, a guy at the peak of his reporting and news breaking powers, with the dream job and salary of any sports journalist in the country, is stepping down voluntarily, with three more years on his deal, and choosing to run a mid-major college hoops program in a small town in the snow belt of Western New York.
With his contacts and experience, if Wojnarowski wanted to leave journalism for the competitive side of the business, he could have easily joined a sports agency or a NBA front office. At least one other major college program, upon hearing rumors of Woj’s move, offered him a similar spot with them and the lure of trying to win a national title.
Instead he took the freedom provided from making enough money that he didn’t need anymore money to go create his dream job. It doesn’t get much better than that.
“I’m really excited,” he said.
All of this speaks to two characteristics that I have known about Wojnarowski across three decades of friendship and both working against and with each other — he spent more than a decade here at Yahoo Sports.
One, Woj is as gifted of a writer and reporter as sports journalism has, but the secret to his success was a competitive bent that could cross over into maniacal.
Two, there is nothing outside of his family he loves more than St. Bonaventure, the school where a kid from Bristol, Connecticut, found his footing, his confidence and his wife, Amy.
To the sports journalism part, Woj’s drive came not from the thrill of breaking a story or writing a great column, it was in beating the other guy. Starting as an intern at the Hartford Courant, through stints as a college beat reporter in Waterbury, Connecticut, and a columnist in Fresno, California, and North Jersey, he was driven to get higher and higher in the industry.
Eventually at Yahoo he became a hard-hitting NBA columnist and then newsbreaker without peer. At ESPN, he found fame and fortune doing the job.
But the money and the attention were never it. He and his family still live in the same home they did when he was a suburban newspaper columnist. Simple meals were always preferred. He never changed under those bright television lights because they were simply a means to the end (more broken stories) than the destination.
Winning was what always mattered the most. It was always a zero-sum game for him. Each night was about knowing whatever competition was in front of him; he beat it in every way possible.
So while he will stop chasing down rumors and news tips, he will now focus on getting better players and eventually victories for the Bonnies. He will use his relationships and talents to try to get championships for the team he likes the most.
This wasn’t about finding some high-profile NBA job, just as being a reporter was never about going to ESPN (he turned them down repeatedly through the years before finally accepting).
This is about competition.
Wojnarowski’s New Role: More Than Just NIL Deals
A better recruit, not a Woj Bomb.
It makes perfect sense. Good luck to the rest of the Atlantic 10, because while the Bonnies may never get good enough to win an actual Final Four, this guy doesn’t lose when he sets his mind to something.
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Adrian Wojnarowski, Senior NBA Insider for ESPN, is retiring from his award-winning journalism career and returning to his alma mater as general manager for the St. Bonaventure men's basketball program.
“I'm thrilled and humbled to return to St. Bonaventure with an opportunity to serve the university, Coach Mark Schmidt and our elite Atlantic 10 men's basketball program,” Wojnarowski said. “In these changing times of college sports, I'm eager to join a championship program that combines high-level basketball, national television exposure, pro preparation and NIL opportunities with an intimate, supportive educational environment.”
The Rise of the General Manager in College Sports
Recognizing the rapidly evolving landscape of college athletics, many power conference and mid-major schools have added the role of general manager since 2022, especially for their football and men's basketball programs.
“I'm hopeful to share with members of our community some best practices learned from the most successful franchises and minds in the NBA and committed to opening doors globally for our players both on and off the court,” Wojnarowski said.
Bob Beretta, vice president and director of Intercollegiate Athletics, said Wojnarowski's decision is an “incredible opportunity” for the university, its athletic department and the men's basketball program.
“At a time of tremendous turbulence within the intercollegiate athletics enterprise, we are making a strong statement that St. Bonaventure continues to be on the forefront of change,” Beretta said. “This a bold move that aligns with our institutional goals to continue to grow and flourish.”
Wojnarowski's global network of connections in the basketball world will be an invaluable asset for the program, Beretta said.
“Woj is the perfect person to fill this new role, combining his intimate knowledge of St. Bonaventure and our Franciscan values with a deep network of relationships he has built across the worlds of professional and intercollegiate basketball,” Beretta said. “The fact that the preeminent journalist in his field is willing to walk away from a lucrative media career to serve his alma mater in a support role is a testament to his love and passion for Bona's.”
Schmidt called the decision to add Wojnarowski to his staff a “home run.”
“This move is critical to navigate the new landscape of college basketball in NIL, recruiting and retention,” said Schmidt, the winningest men's basketball coach in school history. “Woj is as connected as anyone in the basketball world and his decades-long network of relationships can only help our program remain among the top teams in the Atlantic 10 going forward.”
A Home Run For the Bonnies
In walking away from a lucrative contract extension he signed with ESPN in 2022, Wojnarowski now wants to give back to a university that has made an indelible impression on his life. He and his wife, Amy, ‘92, have been major benefactors to the basketball program and the Jandoli School of Communication.
“I'm grateful to President (Jeff) Gingerich, Bob Beretta, Coach Schmidt and the entire St. Bonaventure community for welcoming my wife, Amy, and me back into the campus community in a new role,” Wojnarowski said. “We met on this beautiful campus as undergraduates and have shared a lifelong love with the university that continues now. I'm ready to get to work.”
Wojnarowski, Class of 1991, announced his retirement from ESPN on X (formerly Twitter) this morning.
“This craft transformed my life, but I've decided to retire from ESPN and the news industry,” Wojnarowski wrote. “I understand the commitment required in my role and it's an investment that I'm no longer driven to make. Time isn't in endless supply and I want to spend mine in ways that are more personally meaningful.”
Prior to his work for ESPN, where he's been since 2017, Wojnarowski worked for Yahoo Sports, where he spent nearly 10 years, including two as editor of The Vertical. His standout career in journalism includes nearly 10 years at The Record of New Jersey (where he was twice named the APSE Columnist of the Year), as well as several years each at the Fresno Bee and Waterbury (Conn.) Republican-American.
Wojnarowski's peers voted him the National Sports Media Association's National Sportswriter of the Year in 2017, 2018 and 2019. He joined a distinguished list of greats to have won that award in at least three successive years – Red Smith, Jim Murray, Frank Deford, Rick Reilly, Bob Ryan and Tom Verducci.
Wojnarowski is the New York Times bestselling author of “The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty.”
The university's Commencement speaker and recipient of an honorary degree in 2022, Wojnarowski was named the Jandoli School's 2019 Alumnus of the Year, and has been inducted onto the Jandoli School's Wall of Distinguished Graduates.
A press conference to welcome Amy and Adrian back to the Bonaventure community will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, in the Quick Center for the Arts theater. The campus community is welcome to attend.
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