By Andrew Marchand, Richard Deitsch, C.J. Moore and Alex Andrejev
Longtime NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski retired from his role with ESPN on Wednesday in a shocking move. Wojnarowski, one of the most influential news breakers in sports media history who is famous for his “Woj bombs,” will become the general manager of the men’s basketball program at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure.
He is walking away from around $20 million with ESPN as he had nearly three years remaining on his contract at around $7 million per year, four people briefed on the move said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of Wojnarowski’s contract.
Wojnarowski, 55, has a long-standing relationship with ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro, as Pitaro was his Yahoo boss when Wojnarowski first rose to prominence as an NBA insider.
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Wojnarowski spoke Wednesday morning with Pitaro and ESPN president of content, Burke Magnus, who were surprised by the move, the sources said.
Wojnarowski conveyed to his ESPN bosses that he was completely burned out from the incessant news breaking that required him to be on his phone nearly 24/7.
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Wojnarowski told his bosses that with the NBA season around the corner, the thought of only having three hours of sleep per night to keep up with the latest transactions and information was unappealing. He thought he could have gone on for one more season, but the St. Bonaventure job excited him in a way that news breaking no longer did.
With Wojnarowski’s long-standing relationship, sources briefed on the move said that Wojnarowski could become an adviser to Pitaro, though his full-time job will be with St. Bonaventure. This is an idea ESPN’s top executives brought up and the two sides said they would discuss it at a later date.
“While we will miss his daily output, we completely understand his decision to make a lifestyle change and slow down a bit,” Pitaro said in a statement.
ESPN will now need to figure out how it will move forward.
While it could look to replace Wojnarowski from the outside, one source with direct knowledge of the network’s thinking said it could try to create a new top insider from its long list of NBA reporters, with Wojnarowski perhaps serving as a mentor working with Cristina Daglas, a top editor for the coverage.
Wojnarowski’s chief rival outside the network is Shams Charania, who is with The Athletic. Charania’s contract is currently up, as the New York Post first reported.
ESPN could also reimagine the role, although it has similar insider-type positions for other sports. If ESPN went this route, it would be a significant change for the network, which has made continuous NBA coverage a central part of its programming, with Wojnarowski a leading presence.
ESPN’s basketball coverage has been in flux since it fired its top NBA game analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson in the summer of 2023. Last year, Doc Rivers, after what top ESPN play-by-player Mike Breen described as weeks of service as one of the new lead analysts, backed out of his contract with ESPN to coach the Milwaukee Bucks. He was replaced by JJ Redick, who then left to become the Los Angeles Lakers head coach after calling the NBA Finals. Both Rivers and Redick teamed with Doris Burke as the lead analysts. Burke remains on the job.
ESPN is considering adding TNT Sports’ Grant Hill, Richard Jefferson or Tim Legler to join Breen and Burke. However, it also may hold off on any decision to see what develops during the season. The lead crew calls the NBA Finals. Top college game analyst Jay Bilas had been considered but is no longer in the running, according to two sources briefed on ESPN’s internal discussions.
As for Wojnarowski, who grew up in Bristol, Conn., home of ESPN, he put out a statement Wednesday, announcing his move.
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— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 18, 2024
“I grew up the son of a factory worker two miles from ESPN’s campus and dreamed of making a living as a sports writer,” Wojnarowski wrote to his 6.5 million followers on X. “Thirty seven years ago, the Hartford Courant gave me my first byline and never stopped chasing the thrill of it all.
“The craft transformed my life, but I’ve decided to retire from ESPN and the news industry. I understand the commitment required in my role and it’s an investment I’m no longer driven to make. Time isn’t in endless supply and I want to spend mine in ways that are personally meaningful.”
He thanked Pitaro and Daglas before ending his statement by saying, “After all these years reporting on everyone’s teams, I’m headed back to my own.”
Wojnarowski has not hidden his love for St. Bonaventure as he and his close friends and Bonnies alums, Chris LaPlaca, ESPN’s just retired former head of communications, and New York Post lead columnist, Mike Vaccaro, are often on social media when they are attending games.
St. Bonaventure, located in southwestern New York, competes in the Atlantic 10 conference and last made the NCAA Tournament in 2021. Wojnarowski’s role with St. Bonaventure includes name, image and likeness opportunities, serving as a liaison with collectives, working in transfer portal management and assisting with family and alumni player relationships, professional player programs and program fundraising.
“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 a statement released through the school. “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.”
Wojnarowski’s next role — GM of a college basketball program — is still being defined across the sport. In some instances, it’s scouting talent. Sometimes it’s communicating with grassroots coaches and players. And some are tasked with trying to grow an NIL budget. It largely depends on what a head coach needs.
One college coach told The Athletic recently that fundraising would be a major part of the job if his school were eventually to add the position. More specifically, going out and bringing in new money. That could be the case at St. Bonaventure, where Wojnarowski will bring name value and publicity.
Wojnarowski will likely be leaned on for his wide-ranging network as well. Dealing with agents has become part of the game, and his former job should benefit him because he had to deal a ton with agents in the news-breaking game.
On the court, St. Bonaventure has been one of the five best programs in the Atlantic 10 in the last decade, and the A-10 is one of the best mid-major leagues in the country. But in this new NIL world, a school’s NIL budget largely determines its standing in a league. We do not have a database of budgets, but from an informal poll of coaches in the last year, Dayton, VCU and Saint Louis appeared to have the biggest budgets in the conference.
NIL is important for both bringing in and retaining talent. The Bonnies, for instance, had their best core of talent in 2021-22. After a run to the NIT semifinals, four of their starters entered the transfer portal and all ended up at high-major schools. Even the schools with the biggest budgets at this level — Dayton, for instance — have struggled to retain their best players. Dayton lost two of its best players this past cycle.
But A-10 schools have a better shot at roster retention than smaller mid-majors. And the Bonnies have an opportunity to remain one of the top programs in the league if they continue to grow their NIL budget because they already have one of the league’s best coaches in Mark Schmidt. Schmidt, who has been at St. Bonaventure since 2007, has guided the program to three NCAA Tournaments.
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(Photo: Michael J. LeBrecht II / NBAE via Getty Images)