Adrian Wojnarowski steps down from ESPN to become GM of St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team

By Andrew Marchand, Richard Deitsch, CJ Moore and Alex Andrejev

In a shocking move, veteran NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski stepped down from his role at ESPN on Wednesday. Wojnarowski, one of the most influential newsmen in sports media history known for his “Woj bombs,” will become general manager of the men’s basketball program at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure.

He’s walking away with about $20 million from ESPN, with almost three years left on his contract and a salary of about $7 million a year, according to three people with knowledge of the move, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to publicly discuss details of Wojnarowski’s contract.

Wojnarworski, 55, has a longstanding relationship with ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro. Pitaro was his boss at Yahoo! when Wojnarowski first rose to prominence as an NBA insider.

Wojnarowski spoke with Pitaro and ESPN president of content Burke Magnus on Wednesday morning, according to sources familiar with the conversation. The two were surprised by the move, the sources said.

Wojnarowski told his ESPN bosses that he was completely burned out from the constant news cycle, which had him on his phone almost 24/7.

Wojnarowski told his bosses that with the NBA season just around the corner, the idea of ​​sleeping only three hours a night to stay up to date on the latest trades and information was unappealing. He thought he could have stayed for another season, but the job at St. Bonaventure excited him more than news that was no longer there.

With Wojnarowski’s long-standing relationship, sources familiar with the move said Wojnarowski could become an adviser to Pitaro, though his full-time job will be at St. Bonaventure. It’s an idea ESPN executives floated, and the two sides said they would discuss it later.

“While we will miss his daily output, we completely understand his decision to change his lifestyle and take it a bit easier,” Pitaro said in a statement.

ESPN must now figure out how to replace Wojnarowski.

While ESPN could look outside the box, a source familiar with the network’s thinking said it could try to create a new top insider with Wojnarowski as a potential mentor, working alongside its ESPN NBA editor, Cristina Daglas. ESPN has a long list of NBA reporters it could try to promote to the position. It could also try to reshape the role, though it has similar Wojnarowski-like positions in Adam Schefter in the NFL, Jeff Passan in MLB and Pete Thamel in college sports.

ESPN’s basketball coverage remains in a state of flux after 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 head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers after covering the NBA Finals. Both Rivers and Redick were teamed with Doris Burke as lead analysts. Burke will remain on the job.

ESPN is considering adding Grant Hill, Richard Jefferson or TNT Sports’ Tim Legler to Breen and Burke. But it may wait to see what happens during the season. The main crew calls the NBA Finals. Top college game analyst Jay Bilas was considered but is no longer in the running, according to sources familiar with ESPN’s internal discussions.

Wojnarowski, who grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, home of ESPN, announced his move in a statement on Wednesday.

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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 sportswriter,” Wojnarowski wrote to his 6.5 million followers on X. “Thirty-seven years ago, the Hartford County Courthouse gave me my first name, and I’ve never stopped chasing the thrill of it.

“The profession has changed my life, but I have decided to retire from ESPN and the news industry. I understand the dedication my role requires and it is an investment I am no longer willing to make. Time is not infinite and I want to spend my time in ways that are personally meaningful.”

He thanked Pitaro and Daglas before concluding his statement with the words: “After all these years of reporting on everyone’s teams, I’m going back to my own team.”

Wojnarowski has made no secret of his love for St. Bonaventure. Along with close friends and longtime allies Chris LaPlaca, the recently retired former ESPN communications director, and Mike Vacarro, the New York Post’s top columnist, they can often be found on social media when 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 at St. Bonaventure includes brand, image and likeness opportunities, serving as a liaison to collectives, working to manage transfer portals, and assisting with player family and alumni relations, professional player programs, and fundraising for the program.

“I am excited 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 for college sports, I am eager to join a championship program that combines high-level basketball, national television exposure, professional preparation and NIL opportunities with an intimate, supportive educational environment.”

Wojnarowski’s next role — GM of a college basketball program — is still being defined in the sport. In some cases, it’s scouting talent. Sometimes, it’s communicating with grassroots coaches and players. And for some, it’s the job of trying to grow a NIL budget. It largely depends on what a head coach needs.

A college coach told The Athletics recently that fundraising would be a key part of the job if his school eventually added the position. More specifically, going out and raising new money. That could be the case at St. Bonaventure, where Wojnarowski will bring name recognition and publicity.

Wojnarowski will also likely be called upon for his extensive network. Dealing with agents has become part of the game, and his previous job should benefit him, as he dealt with agents a lot in the news-breaking game.

On the field, St. Bonaventure is one of the top five programs in the Atlantic 10 over 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 the league. We don’t have a database of budgets, but in an informal poll of coaches last year, Dayton, VCU and Saint Louis appeared to have the largest budgets in the conference.

NIL is important for both acquiring and retaining talent. The Bonnies, for example, had their best core of talent in 2021-22. After a run to the NIT semifinals, four of their starters entered the transfer portal, all of them landing at big-time schools. Even the schools with the biggest budgets at this level — Dayton, for example — have struggled to retain their best players. Dayton lost two of its best players this past cycle.

But A-10 schools have a better chance of retaining their roster than smaller mid-majors. And the Bonnies have a chance to remain one of the league’s top programs if they continue to grow their NIL budget, as they already have one of the league’s top coaches in Mark Schmidt. Schmidt, who has been at St. Bonaventure since 2007, has led the program to three NCAA tournament appearances.

(Photo: Michael J. LeBrecht II/NBAE via Getty Images)