Adrian Wojnarowski (/wɜːrdʒˈnaʊski/;[1] born March 4, 1969),[2] nicknamed Woj, is an American basketball executive and former sports columnist and reporter. He served as an NBA insider for ESPN and Yahoo! Sports from the 2010s until 2024.[3] He is currently the general manager of the St. Bonaventure Bonnies men's basketball team.
Adrian Wojnarowski | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 4, 1969 Bristol, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Alma mater | St. Bonaventure University |
| Occupation(s) | Sports reporter, columnist |
| Years active | 1986–2024 |
| Coaching career | |
| Current position | |
| Title | General manager |
| Team | St. Bonaventure |
| Conference | A-10 |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 2024–present | St. Bonaventure (GM) |
Personal life
editWojnarowski was born in Bristol, Connecticut, on March 4, 1969; he is of Polish descent.[4] He graduated from Bristol Central High School in 1987. He went to St. Bonaventure University which is in Allegany, New York, where he graduated in 1991.[3] He currently lives in Glen Rock, New Jersey with his wife, Amy, and their two children, Ben and Annie.[5] In May 2022, Wojnarowski received an honorary doctorate from St. Bonaventure University.[6]
Career
editWojnarowski began his career working for the Hartford Courant starting as a high school senior and continuing during breaks from college. During his time in college, he interned at the Olean Times Herald in 1989, where the sports department put him to use writing highly critical pieces of St. Bonaventure's basketball team.[7] After graduating from college, he wrote for some smaller papers before becoming a columnist for the Fresno Bee in 1995.[8]
In 1997, he began to work for The Record in New Jersey. As a result of his work with The Record, he was named "Columnist of the Year" in 1997 and in 2002 by the Associated Press Sports Editors. During that time, he also contributed regularly to ESPN.com. In 2006, he published a New York Times best-seller: The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty.[3] On June 20, 2019, Wojnarowski was awarded the inaugural Tony Kubek Award for Media Excellence by the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in Michigan.
Yahoo! Sports
editIn 2007, Wojnarowski left The Record and joined Yahoo! Sports full-time. In March 2009, he and Dan Wetzel wrote a story tying the Connecticut Huskies men's basketball program to several recruiting violations.[9] In 2010 the New York Post reported that Wojnarowski was being sued by the Penguin Group for failing to meet a deadline for a book covering the life of coach Jim Valvano. Wojnarowski responded that the problem was "a miscommunication between my agent and me" and said that he would be returning the money to Penguin Books.[10]
Wojnarowski has been widely considered one of the best NBA "scoopers" in the business by fans, especially during the NBA draft, when he has called the picks and trades involving said picks ahead of time on his Twitter account.[8][11] His scoops have been referred to as "Woj Bombs"—and it has been known for readers on social media, to respond in comments sections with "nuclear explosion" gifs, for comedic effect.[12] However, he has been criticized by media critics for his reporting on NBA player LeBron James, being accused of having an apparent bias and relying on anonymous sources.[8][13][14][15] He was listed #1 in Sports Media Watch's Worst of Sports Media 2010 as a result of this criticism.[16]
ESPN
editWojnarowski left Yahoo! Sports for ESPN on July 1, 2017, just before the start of NBA free agency that year.[17] He made his ESPN debut on the midnight edition of SportsCenter earlier that day.
Josh Hawley incident
editOn July 10, 2020, Republican Senator Josh Hawley wrote a letter to NBA commissioner Adam Silver questioning the propriety of the NBA allowing social justice statements on players' jerseys, but not support for law enforcement or anything critical of the Chinese Communist Party.[18] The NBA has business connections with China.[19] Wojnarowski, copied on the Hawley communication, replied to Hawley via email saying "fuck you". Wojnarowski apologized the same day to Hawley and ESPN;[20] ESPN called Wojnarowski's response "completely unacceptable behavior" and added the network was "addressing it directly with Adrian and specifics of those conversations will remain internal." Two days later, ESPN suspended Wojnarowski without pay.[19] He was due to remain suspended for one to two weeks.[18][21]
St. Bonaventure
editOn September 19, 2024, Wojnarowski announced his retirement from the news industry to take a role as general manager of the men's basketball team at St. Bonaventure University, his alma mater.[22]
Publications
edit- Wojnarowski, Adrian (January 19, 2006). The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty. Gotham Books. p. 416. ISBN 1-59240-186-4.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Nolan, Katie (January 26, 2016). "GARBAGE TIME PODCAST: Episode 16 - Adrian Wojnarowski". YouTube. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
- ^ "Adrian Wojnarowski - Biography and Images". Tv Newsroom. November 24, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
- ^ a b c Yahoo! Staff (n.d.). "NBA – Adrian Wojnarowski". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
- ^ Eichorn, George. "ADRIAN WOJNAROWSKI HONORED AS INAUGURAL "TONY KUBEK MEDIA AWARD" RECIPIENT". Retrieved December 29, 2021.
- ^ Klapisch, Bob (March 9, 2017). "Klapisch: Nobody beats The Woj". North Jersey. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
- ^ "ESPN's Wojnarowski addresses almost 700 St. Bonaventure graduates". St. Bonaventure University. May 15, 2022. Retrieved May 15, 2022.
- ^ Pollock, Chuck (September 19, 2024). "Going from ESPN back to St. Bonaventure was worth more than millions to 'Woj'". Olean Star. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
- ^ a b c Draper, Kevin (December 16, 2014). "Adrian Wojnarowski: How Basketball's Reporting Machine Gets His Scoops | New Republic". The New Republic. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
- ^ "Wojnarowski helps Yahoo climb to top Greg Connors, Buffalo News, August 13, 2010". Archived from the original on October 21, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Gardner, Tim (September 1, 2010). "Yahoo! writer sued by publisher over failure to meet deadline on Valvano biography". USAToday.com. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
- ^ Caspian King, Jay (June 27, 2014). "Twitter's NBA Draft Oracle". The New Yorker. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
- ^ Strauss, Ben (June 29, 2022). "How a 'Woj bomb' blew up NBA draft lines and cost bettors". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
- ^ Strauss, Ethan Sherwood (July 19, 2010). "Outside Look at Wojnarowski's LeBron Article". Warriors World. Archived from the original on September 15, 2022. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
- ^ Shoals, Bethlehem (July 19, 2010). "With Lebron James, How Anonymous is Too Anonymous?". AOL News. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
- ^ Brown, Larry (June 7, 2011). "Why Anything Adrian Wojnarowski Writes About LeBron James Needs to be Ignored". Larry Brown Sports. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
- ^ Lewis, Jon (December 15, 2010). "Worst of Sports Media 2010". Sports Media Watch. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
- ^ Deitsch, Richard. "Adrian Wojnarowski to start at ESPN on July 1". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
- ^ a b Strauss, Ben (July 12, 2020). "ESPN suspends Adrian Wojnarowski, its star NBA reporter, after profane email to senator". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
- ^ a b Panetta, Grace (July 10, 2020). "ESPN's star NBA reporter apologizes for emailing 'F--- you' to Sen. Josh Hawley". Business Insider. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
- ^ Bumbaca, Chris (July 10, 2020). "ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski apologizes to Sen. Josh Hawley for profane email response". USA Today. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
- ^ Hawley, Josh (July 10, 2020). "Letter Pressuring the NBA to Allow Players to Wear Anti-CCP" (PDF). hawley.senate.gov. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
- ^ Thamel, Pete; Passan, Jeff; Schefter, Adam (September 18, 2024). "Woj retires from ESPN to be GM at alma mater". ESPN.com. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
