Wojnarowski, ’91, Retires From ESPN To Accept GM Role With Bonnies Basketball Program

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Adrian Wojnarowski, Senior NBA Insider for ESPN, is retiring from his award-winning journalism profession and returning to his alma mater as normal supervisor for the St. Bonaventure males’s basketball program.

“I am thrilled and humbled to return to St. Bonaventure with a chance to serve the college, Coach Mark Schmidt and our elite Atlantic 10 males’s basketball program,” Wojnarowski stated. “In these altering instances of faculty sports activities, I am keen to hitch a championship program that mixes high-level basketball, nationwide tv publicity, professional preparation and NIL alternatives with an intimate, supportive instructional atmosphere.” 

In his position as normal supervisor, Wojnarowski will serve the teaching workers in managing a variety of duties together with title, picture and likeness (NIL) alternatives and as a liaison with collectives; switch portal administration; recruit, household and alumni participant relationships; skilled participant applications; and program fundraising.

Recognizing the quickly evolving panorama of faculty athletics, many energy convention and mid-major faculties have added the position of normal supervisor since 2022, particularly for his or her soccer and males’s basketball applications.

“I am hopeful to share with members of our neighborhood some finest practices discovered from essentially the most profitable franchises and minds within the NBA and dedicated to opening doorways globally for our gamers each on and off the courtroom,” Wojnarowski stated.

Bob Beretta, vice chairman and director of Intercollegiate Athletics, stated Wojnarowski’s determination is an “unimaginable alternative” for the college, its athletic division and the lads’s basketball program.

“At a time of great turbulence inside the intercollegiate athletics enterprise, we’re making a robust assertion that St. Bonaventure continues to be on the forefront of change,” Beretta stated. “This a daring transfer that aligns with our institutional targets to proceed to develop and flourish.”

Wojnarowski’s international community of connections within the basketball world will probably be a useful asset for this system, Beretta stated.

“Woj is the proper particular person to fill this new position, combining his intimate data of St. Bonaventure and our Franciscan values with a deep community of relationships he has constructed throughout the worlds {of professional} and intercollegiate basketball,” Beretta stated. “The truth that the preeminent journalist in his subject is keen to stroll away from a profitable media profession to serve his alma mater in a assist position is a testomony to his love and keenness for Bona’s.”

Schmidt known as the choice so as to add Wojnarowski to his workers a “house run.”

“This transfer is crucial to navigate the brand new panorama of faculty basketball in NIL, recruiting and retention,” stated Schmidt, the winningest males’s basketball coach at school historical past. “Woj is as linked as anybody within the basketball world and his decades-long community of relationships can solely assist our program stay among the many prime groups within the Atlantic 10 going ahead.”

In strolling away from a profitable contract extension he signed with ESPN in 2022, Wojnarowski now needs to present again to a college that has made an indelible impression on his life. He and his spouse, Amy, ’92, have been main benefactors to the basketball program and the Jandoli Faculty of Communication.

“I am grateful to President (Jeff) Gingerich, Bob Beretta, Coach Schmidt and your complete St. Bonaventure neighborhood for welcoming my spouse, Amy, and me again into the campus neighborhood in a brand new position,” Wojnarowski stated. “We met on this lovely campus as undergraduates and have shared a lifelong love with the college that continues now. I am able to get to work.”

Wojnarowski, Class of 1991, introduced his retirement from ESPN on X (previously Twitter) this morning. 

“This craft reworked my life, however I’ve determined to retire from ESPN and the information business,” Wojnarowski wrote. “I perceive the dedication required in my position and it is an funding that I am not pushed to make. Time is not in infinite provide and I need to spend mine in methods which can be extra personally significant.”

Previous to his work for ESPN, the place he is been since 2017, Wojnarowski labored for Yahoo Sports activities, the place he spent almost 10 years, together with two as editor of The Vertical. His standout profession in journalism consists of almost 10 years at The Report of New Jersey (the place he was twice named the APSE Columnist of the 12 months), in addition to a number of years every on the Fresno Bee and Waterbury (Conn.) Republican-American.

Wojnarowski’s friends voted him the Nationwide Sports activities Media Affiliation’s Nationwide Sportswriter of the 12 months in 2017, 2018 and 2019. He joined a distinguished record of greats to have received that award in not less than three successive years – Purple Smith, Jim Murray, Frank Deford, Rick Reilly, Bob Ryan and Tom Verducci.

Wojnarowski is the New York Instances bestselling writer of “The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball’s Most Unbelievable Dynasty.”

The college’s Graduation speaker and recipient of an honorary diploma in 2022, Wojnarowski was named the Jandoli Faculty’s 2019 Alumnus of the 12 months, and has been inducted onto the Jandoli Faculty’s Wall of Distinguished Graduates.

A press convention to welcome Amy and Adrian again to the Bonaventure neighborhood will probably be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, within the Fast Middle for the Arts theater. The campus neighborhood is welcome to attend.

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In regards to the College: The nation’s first Franciscan college, St. Bonaventure College is a neighborhood dedicated to reworking the lives of our college students inside and outdoors the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong dedication to service and citizenship. Out of 167 regional universities within the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #6 for worth and #14 for innovation by U.S. Information and World Report (2024).