1. Wojciechowski was the Chicago Tribune’s National College basketball and football columnist
Wojciechowski was the national football and college basketball columnist for the Chicago Tribune before joining ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine (1996 – 1997). Before returning to covering college football and basketball for the Los Angeles Times, he covered the NFL for the Denver Post (1983-1984) and the Dallas Morning News (1984-1986). (1986 -1996).
Journalist Gene Wojciechowski works for multiple ESPN platforms and shows, such as College GameDay Built by The Home Depot, SportsCenter, SC Featured and others. It covers a variety of sports, including golf and college football.
2. Awards given to Gene Wojciechowski
Wojciechowski has won four National Writing Awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE). Additionally, he has received awards from the LA Press Club, US Basketball Writers Association, Football Writers of America Association, and Pro Football Writers Association.
In 1997, the National Sportswriters and Sportscaster of America honored him with the Illinois Sportswriter of the Year award.
3. He has published numerous books and is an award-winning author
Wojciechowski released his book Cubs Nation: 162 Games. 162 stories. 1 Addiction in December 2007. (Broadway Books). Additionally, he co-wrote autobiographies with several well-known sports personalities.
These books with Jerome Bettis include The Bus: My Life In and Out of a Helmet (Doubleday 2007); I Love Being the Enemy: A Season on the Court by Reggie Miller with the NBA’s best shooter and sharpest tongue (Simon & Schuster 1995); Nothing but the Net by Bill Walton: Give Me the Ball and Get Away (Hyperion Books 1995) and My Life on a Napkin by Rick Majerus.
4. Gene Wojciechowski makes millions
Gene’s earnings were $3 million and his net worth was $5 million. The majority of Gene’s income came from his Yeezy sneakers. Even though he had overestimated the size of his business over the years, the money he earned from his work was significant enough to place him among the highest paid celebrities. Gene’s main source of income comes from his career as an author.
According to Forbes, his huge net worth ranges from $5-10 million.
5. Gene Wojciechowski’s career in ESPN
As the first senior national sports columnist for ESPN.com, Gene Wojciechowski contributed to ESPN The Magazine for many years.
All the big national sports topics are covered in Wojciechowski’s bi-weekly ESPN.com articles.
After working as a college football correspondent for ESPN since 1992, Wojciechowski joined ESPN The Magazine in January 1998 as a senior editor. He has also contributed to numerous other ESPN programming efforts during his career with the company, including SportsCenter, College GameDay, ESPNEWS, ESPN Radio and many more.
Prior to joining ESPN, Wojciechowski worked for the Chicago Tribune for two years as a weekly general columnist, Big Ten football reporter, national college basketball writer, and Chicago Cubs beat writer.
Wojciechowski, who won five Associated Press Sports Editors National Writing Awards, had work chosen for Best American Sports Writing in 2002. Additionally, he has authored or co-authored seven books, including I Love Being the Enemy, About 80 Percent Luck, Pond Scum and Vultures: America’s Sportswriters Talk About Their Glamorous Professions, Nothing But Net with Bill Walton and Cubs Nation (with Reggie Meunier).
In The Heisman: Sixty Years of Tradition and Excellence, he contributed as an author.
The University of Tennessee alum spent ten years as a national college basketball and football writer for the LA Times before moving to Chicago in November 1995. He also wrote a weekly column on the national college basketball for The Sporting News.
In 1980 he started working for the Fort Lauderdale News/Sun-Sentinel. He started working for the Denver Post in 1983 and a year later began writing for the Dallas Morning News. In 1985, he moved to Los Angeles. Additionally, he has written freelance for Sports Illustrated and the Los Angeles Times Magazine.
Additionally, he has received awards from the Los Angeles Press Club, National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, US Basketball Writers Association, College Football Writers Association of America, and College Football Writers Association of America.
6. Gene Wojciechowski has had many award-winning stories.
For “a story he was never part of”, Wojciechowski flew to the Mediterranean Sea less than 80 miles from the Libyan coast.
Wojciechowski spoke with Front Row about creating the piece:
You boarded the rescue ship and set sail?
Two salvage vessels were present. On the escort ship, a converted yacht modified for these missions, they traveled with Marc. An old tug serves as the main vessel. They traveled to Malta after meeting the rescue ships 45 miles offshore on a Monday, spent the next seven days at sea and eventually joined Marc in his hometown of Barcelona.
Did you participate, even if you were only there to tell a story?
They were expected to help out as needed because there were not many full-time crew members on the ship. They did, whether it was cleaning the kitchen, helping with lunch service, etc.
They were aboard Marc’s small speedboat during an actual rescue when it was sent to the remains of an immigrant raft. What they discovered that morning – two bodies floating amidst the wreckage of the rubber raft and surprisingly one survivor would eventually become an international incident. They were then asked to help move the bodies to the upper deck after they returned to the main ship. They helped them because they needed it.
7. Gene has a lot of love for college football.
He has deep thoughts on college football and expressed how much college football is loved.
The Sistine Chapel in 1963 is not college football. Corvette Stingray, “Mad Men” Season 1, almost perfect, but with a tiny bit of spinach stuck between the front teeth, like Sofia Vergara.
It’s good too. It’s an aspect of college football that he loves. He loves that he still resides in a dorm, isn’t the NFL Jr., and sometimes acts stupid.
Plus, he’s not opposed to the NFL. He ranks college football as his favorite sport, with it being his second favorite. He also has Green Bay Packers shares and a classic Paul Hornung jersey that has him choking with pride.
He loves that college football games often take place on Saturdays, the perfect day of the week. You have until Friday to be ready; then you have Sunday to celebrate or mourn and get well. He loves the idea of one day enjoying an alcoholic drink while heeling at Ole Miss on the Grove. All He needs now is a Saturday off.
8. Gene’s brother is a basketball coach.
In 1999, Steve returned to Duke as a Duke Management Company intern and began working as a basketball analyst for the Duke Radio Network.
Krzyzewski then extended a coaching opportunity to Wojciechowski, and he began working as an assistant coach in 1999. In 2008, he was promoted to associate coach. Wojciechowski spent most of his 14 seasons as a Duke coach working with frontcourt players. Two of them, Shane Battier and Shelden Williams, were named National Defensive Players of the Year, and Carlos Boozer, Rodney Hood, Josh McRoberts, Jabari Parker, Mason Plumlee, Miles Plumlee and Lance Thomas all enjoyed successful careers in the NBA.
The Blue Devils won the NCAA championship in 2001 and 2010 while he was an assistant and associate head coach, compiling an overall record of 441-92.
From 2006 to 2014, Wojo served as a team assistant for the senior United States national team, including on the 2008 and 2012 Olympic gold medal-winning squads. Wojciechowski was named the new head basketball coach of Marquette on April 1, 2014, taking the place of Buzz Williams, who left for Virginia Tech.
He amassed a 124-93 record at Marquette, earning two NCAA Tournament bids. This featured his first season with a losing record, followed by five consecutive seasons with a winning record. Wojciechowski was let go at the end of the 2020-21 season due to his failure to win Big East championships and the NCAA tournament record 0-2 in six seasons.
9. Gene Wojciechowski and Kirk Herbstreit worked closely together.
For years, Gene Wojciechowski and Kirk Herbstreit worked closely together on ESPN’s Home Depot-built College GameDay. They’ve grown remarkably close working together on Herbstreit’s memoir “Out of the Pocket: Football, Fatherhood, and College GameDay Saturdays,” released today.
At a dinner party at LSU a few years ago, ESPN writer Wojciechowski, who has written numerous books throughout his award-winning sportswriting career, first broached the subject of producing a book with college football specialist Herbstreit.
He listened courteously, but in retrospect, Wojciechowski said, “I would have had a better chance of persuading Nick Saban to change the color of the Alabama helmet from crimson to lavender for the time being.”
During the COVID pandemic in 2020, they spoke again and Herbstreit decided to do so.
10. Gene Wojciechowski was listed as one of the best sellers on Amazon
Gene has listed many books on Amazon; he is a best-seller and has published many top-priced books. It has always served as words in football, addressing teams of players on the go.
An early participant in football, he constantly challenged himself to write for the players. Moreover, his works managed to touch the hearts of many readers.
