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“Luke did not make this decision because he does not have the ability to make this decision.”
Boston College’s decision not to renew the contracts of men’s basketball radio broadcasters Kevin Collins and Josh Maurer — a story that turned into a surprising social-media maelstrom this week — was not because of an alleged desire of new coach Luke Murray to make sweeping changes.
Per athletic director Blake James and multiple sources who spoke off the record, there was a misguided decision on how the news was delivered to Collins and Maurer — and a major misread on how it would be received.
“Luke did not make this decision because he does not have the ability to make this decision,” said James in a telephone interview Wednesday afternoon. “If someone wanted to say it was my decision, yes, at the end of the day I approved it, and I take full responsibility for that.”
What James approved was a recommendation from Craig Anderson, BC’s deputy director of athletics, whose responsibilities also include serving as the direct sport administrator for men’s basketball, that the Eagles make changes in the booth.
“He came to me and said, ‘OK, this is what we want to do,’ ” said James. “And I said yes.”
The decision blindsided Collins, who had been part of BC broadcasts for 13 years, and Maurer, a current Milwaukee Brewers voice who had worked alongside Collins in his BC side gig for nine years.
The story gained major traction — new coach wipes out the old guard! — when Collins spoke to the sports media website Awful Announcing on Monday, saying he had been told that Murray wanted to clear out anyone who had been associated with the program during previous coach Earl Grant’s tenure.
“He’s a young head coach, no experience, and he’s being given the power to take two guys’ careers away from them who have done nothing but try to serve the program and promote the program,” Collins said.
It is understandable that Collins and Maurer didn’t see it coming. Both had been in touch with Anderson and Mike Winn, general manager of Van Wagner, BC’s multimedia partner, multiple times since Murray, a top assistant for Dan Hurley at UConn, was hired in March.
They had received vague, occasional assurances that their jobs — which included contracts renewed on a year-to-year basis — were safe. But on July 30, they were informed by Winn that a change was being made.
“It was shocking and just crushing,” said Collins in a conversation Wednesday. “I thought that if anything like this ever popped up, where my employment was in trouble, that [me, Anderson, and Winn] could have an adult conversation over a coffee and a cold beverage and hash it out on whether it was going to go one way or the other.
“Maybe they just thought that Josh and I are nice, loyal guys and they’ve done a good job, and that we’d just take it laying down, so to speak.”
Anderson did not return a request for comment, but Collins’s theory is plausible. The decision was framed as a “men’s basketball decision” within the athletic department. In communications with Collins, both Winn and Anderson texted that it was Murray’s call. “I’m sorry,” Anderson said in one text after Collins was staggered by the news.
One source with knowledge of the situation said: “I think [Anderson] thought, if I say, ‘Hey, it’s sort of a men’s basketball decision,’ it makes for an easier conversation, right?”
Multiple sources said Murray had one brief conversation in which the radio broadcast team was discussed, in early April. Murray and Anderson were going over the game-day experience — starting lineup announcements, what would appear on the Jumbotron, that sort of thing.
Anderson brought up the radio team, noting that Maurer was able to do approximately 60 percent of the games because of his Brewers obligations. Maurer, who lives in Milwaukee, also occasionally had travel complications that caused him to miss BC games. (He has not spoken on record about his dismissal.)
Anderson then brought up Collins. Anderson noted to Murray that Collins had been critical of Grant, including on social media. He had also engaged in a back-and-forth on social media with UConn fans in which he was dubious about Murray’s credentials.
Sources told me that Collins had received occasional scoldings from the athletic department over the years, including once for griping about Grant in a social setting after a road game, which had not gone over well with other members of BC’s traveling party in attendance.
James said that he learned in July about some of Collins’s social media posts.
“Had I known that stuff was out there, I think we would have been making a change as soon as those types of comments were going on on social media,” he said.
In the game-day ops conversation with Anderson, which sources say lasted less than a minute, Murray did say that “in a perfect world” having the play-by-play voice, Maurer, there for every game would be ideal. Murray considered Collins’s opinionated style on social media a bit concerning, but never suggested a change.
According to a source familiar with his thinking, Murray considers involvement in ancillary parts of the program such as the broadcast teams as overreach, and something that is not his place since it has nothing to do with trying to win games.
Murray does have one thing in common with Collins and Maurer. When the story about BC firing its broadcasters blew up Monday, Murray, sources said, was taken aback.
Everyone was. Except those who made the decision.
“Over the last 60 hours I’ve had to have a lot more conversations about radio announcers than I ever imagined that I would,” said James, “or I’ve ever had before in my career.”
Globe correspondent Trevor Hass contributed to this report.
