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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) |
Wojnarowski 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]
Wojnarowski 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
In 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
Wojnarowski 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
On 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
On 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]
- 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.
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