Longtime NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, better known as Woj, shockingly decided to call it quits from the top of the sportswriting industry at age 55, announcing his retirement Sept. 18 in an Instagram post.
“After all these years reporting on everyone’s teams, I’m headed back to my own,” he announced on social media on Wednesday.
Just minutes after the initial post was made, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that Wojnarowski agreed to become the general manager of the men’s basketball program at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure University.
While this may seem like a shocking move made by one of the most prominent sports journalists out there, this career jump is one rooted in reason.
Since NIL (name, image and likeness) came into effect just over three years ago, many college athletics programs have been incorporating GMs or general managers into their systems to play a vital role in the team’s future business plans.
For St. Bonaventure, Bonnies head coach Mark Schmidt stated in a news release that, “This move is critical to navigate the new landscape of college basketball in NIL, recruiting and retention.”
Woj will oversee the program’s NIL efforts, fundraising, transfer portal, recruiting and professional player programs.
“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,” Bob Beretta, who was hired in June as the athletics director of St. Bonaventure said.
Wojnarowski has been no stranger to the school, especially the basketball program, since graduating over 30 years ago as he remained a main fundraiser and assisted in the creation of St. Bonaventure’s NIL collective, Team Unfurl, and was the school’s commencement speaker in 2022.
In 2019, Woj was named the Alumnus of the Year and was inducted into the Russell Jandoli School of Communications Hall of Fame.
For many NBA fans, Woj became a prominent figure in breaking news. When anything happened in the NBA, he was first, or second thanks to Shams Charania, to be posting about it. These notable announcements came to be known as “Woj bombs,” a testament to how beloved Wojnarowski had become in the online sports sphere.
Woj bombs took over the NBA world and it seemed every day fans would receive multiple notifications on their phones during all hours of the day and night from ESPN regarding trades, rumors, injuries and other breaking news before anyone else.
Before he could reach that mountaintop, however, his sportswriting career began 37 years ago for the Hartford Courant as a senior in high school and he continued there during breaks from college.
In his retirement post, Woj shared that he grew up just two miles from the ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, and only ever dreamed of becoming a sportswriter.
After graduating from St. Bonaventure with a journalism degree, Woj spent many years at both The Fresno Bee and The Waterbury Republican-American building his repertoire.
He became the senior NBA insider at ESPN in 2017 after nearly 10 years with Yahoo! Sports. Prior to his time at Yahoo!, he wrote for The Record of New Jersey where he was awarded “Columnist of the Year” in 1997 and 2002 by the Associated Press Sports Editors.
“I am hopeful that I can bring value in a lot of areas to our basketball program and open doors for our young men’s futures in ways both professionally and personally,” Woj said.
Under this new reign, the Bonnies will look to make the NCAA Tournament for just the fifth time since Woj graduated in 1991.
