Not every coaching change is about buyouts and NIL spending. Some are stranger than that.
St. Bonaventure has a GM — and it's Adrian Wojnarowski
Air Force: What Happened Behind Closed Doors
Air Force suspended Joe Scott indefinitely on January 17 for "the treatment of cadet-athletes." The Academy never specified what that meant. A month later, on February 20, Scott was fired.
His record — 97-183 across two stints, including a 3-29 final season — warranted dismissal on its own. But the suspension for treatment of cadets suggests something beyond mere losing. Coaching at a service academy is uniquely constrained: players are cadets first, subject to military discipline and five-year service commitments after graduation. The standard for how they are treated is higher than at civilian programs, and AD Nathan Pine's pointed language about needing a coach "aligned with the Air Force Academy's mission of forging leaders of character" spoke volumes without saying anything specific.
The replacement is Joe Crispin, a Penn State legend (1,986 career points, Sweet 16 in 2001) who built Rowan into a Division III power (114-54) before returning to Penn State as an assistant. His introductory quote was pure Academy: "As we cultivate men of integrity, service, and excellence in everything, our team will compete at the highest level."
Oregon State: Tinkle Exits Before the Pac-12 Returns
Wayne Tinkle coached Oregon State for 12 seasons and 176-205 games. He took a program to the 2021 Elite Eight — one of the great Cinderella runs of the decade — and then watched it regress into mediocrity as the Pac-12 collapsed around him.
Now, with Oregon State preparing to rejoin the reconstituted Pac-12, AD Scott Barnes decided the program needed a fresh voice. Barnes gave Tinkle the choice to leave immediately or finish the season. Tinkle, characteristically, chose to finish.
"I kept going back to all my pregame speeches — don't run from a challenge, take adversity head on, fight to the bitter end," he said. "I'm not going to leave here bitter."
His replacement is Justin Joyner, a 37-year-old first-time head coach from Dusty May's Michigan staff who previously spent seven years at Saint Mary's under Randy Bennett. His five-year deal is worth $4.85 million. He has won conference titles at every stop as an assistant. Whether he can win one as the man in charge is the experiment Oregon State is running.
St. Bonaventure: Woj Is Building Something
The strangest coaching situation in college basketball is unfolding in Allegany, New York, and it has Adrian Wojnarowski's fingerprints all over it.
Mark Schmidt coached St. Bonaventure for 19 seasons — 338 wins, three NCAA Tournament appearances, the most victories in program history. Then he "retired." Former players reacted with frustration on social media, suggesting the departure was less voluntary than the framing implied.
The person reshaping the program is Wojnarowski himself — the legendary ESPN NBA insider who retired from media in September 2024 and was hired as the Bonnies' General Manager. Yes, a college basketball program has a GM. An NBA-style front-office structure at an Atlantic 10 mid-major in rural western New York.
Woj has been heavily involved in recruiting, managing NIL and revenue-sharing dollars, and now is leading the coaching search. The frontrunner is reportedly Mike MacDonald, a local coaching legend from Division II Daemen College who went 33-1 this season. David Vanterpool, a Bonnies alum and current Wizards assistant, is also a candidate.
It is an unprecedented experiment: can an NBA-style organizational structure — centralized roster management, a GM who controls spending, a coach who focuses on coaching — work at the Division I level? St. Bonaventure may be the first program to find out.