Did Boston College’s new coach fire the announcers? Or was he blindsided, too? A whodunit story

Say this for Boston College men’s basketball: We are talking about it. In August.

But we’re talking about it for the wrong reasons: the dismissal of two longtime radio announcers who believed things were fine for months until a stunning reversal. It’s a strange, infuriating story. A mystery, too.

Did newly hired first-time head coach Luke Murray make the call to replace them? That’s what announcers Kevin Collins and Josh Maurer were led to believe when they were told last week that they’re out after nine seasons together. It’s what Collins, who has called the past 13 BC seasons, told Awful Announcing for a story that published Monday.

But on Tuesday, there were a lot of (predictable but persistent) whispers that Murray was incorrectly blamed. In which case, did Boston College deputy athletic director Craig Anderson make the decision? He told Collins and Maurer it was Murray’s decision, Collins told The Athletic. Were they misled?

“It’s one or the other,” Collins said.

If Collins and Maurer were told shortly after Murray was hired in March that the school was going in a different direction, it would have been disappointing. But they would have had time to find something else for the 2026-27 school year.

Instead, they were fired last week after both asked several times in the preceding months about their status, their fears put to rest each time. Technically, they were informed they would not be getting new contracts — they signed one-year deals each summer with Van Wagner, which owns the rights to BC games. That is the same as being fired.

And it’s terrible timing. After months of trying in vain to have even a single conversation with Murray.

It’s one more setback for a program that last won an NCAA Tournament game in 2007 and a department that is playing catch-up in this era of paying athletes. Boston College doesn’t need this. Not after the initial excitement over hiring Murray, the 41-year-old hotshot (and son of actor Bill Murray) who helped Dan Hurley win two national championships as an assistant coach at UConn.

It would cast some doubt on his readiness. It would serve as a lesson to him. It serves as a lesson to anyone trying to do this job.

One, don’t worry about things that have nothing to do with winning. Two, don’t treat people badly for no reason.

Collins and Maurer were told this was Murray’s decision because he wants nothing left over from the era of predecessor Earl Grant, who went 72-92 in five seasons. Including the broadcasters is just weird. I’ve seen some indefensible broadcasting decisions — those of us who grew up listening to Ernie Harwell call Detroit Tigers baseball games will never forget Bo Schembechler firing him in 1990 — but this is unexplainable.

Easily the hardest tweet of my career. Love you @JoshMaurerPxP and sorry it had to end this way 💔

Huge thanks to Mike Winn, Josh Maurer, and Danya Abrams for supporting and empowering me over the last 13+ years.

I will always be an Eagle 🦅 #WeAreBC pic.twitter.com/NoLKNhUN43

— Kevin Collins (@Kevin_R_Collins) August 3, 2026

Longtime radio announcers matter to fans. Sometimes they matter a lot. Again, I submit the late, great Harwell, who was briefly penalized for not being a loud homer on the air (he was rehired in 1992), and who meant more to generations of Tigers fans than most players in the franchise’s history.

In March in Oklahoma City, I watched Nebraska players, coaches and thousands of fans send instant adoration to Kent Pavelka after he called the program’s first NCAA Tournament win in his 41st season. After coach Fred Hoiberg, he was the most popular guy in the place.

This may not be that, but Collins and Maurer’s nine years together were no small thing. Nor were 13 straight years or a lifetime of loyalty. Collins grew up in Plymouth, Mass., shooting hoops in his driveway wearing a BC No. 24 jersey, that of 1990s great Danya Abrams. He sat at Murray’s introductory news conference, clapped for his favorite parts and said he wasn’t even given a chance to shake Murray’s hand afterward.

Now he’s scrambling to find something after a gig that included baseball, hockey and ACC Network opportunities. He said he has received “overwhelming support” since going public with the story.

Maurer, who declined comment, lives in Milwaukee and does play-by-play for the Milwaukee Brewers. But this is still a rug pulled out from under him and a secondary source of income lost. Without the respect of a conversation with Murray. Because … radio announcers can now be blamed for a coaching staff’s failures?

Murray did not respond to a text message seeking comment. BC addressed the situation, releasing this statement from AD Blake James to The Athletic: “The decision to not renew the contracts of our men’s basketball radio announcers was made by Boston College athletics administrators in consultation with our (media rights) partner. We wish both Kevin and Josh the best going forward.”

But Anderson, who directed all inquiries to James when reached by text, told Collins and Maurer that this was Murray’s decision. So did Mike Winn, general manager of Van Wagner. Anderson told Collins he fought to keep him, Collins said. Collins has text messages as receipts.

So Murray targeted a peripheral aspect of the program for needless change, treating people poorly in the process. Or the administrator who oversees his program threw him under the bus and lied to an announcer who characterized their relationship as a long-term friendship. Either way, yikes.

BC fans should hope their new coach is above such stuff. As you might expect, things are flying around social media, such as a Collins tweet asking if fans were “comfortable” with a coach with no head-coaching experience — posted more than a week before Murray was hired. Apparently, he was supposed to go full homer for every candidate.

Now he needs to find a job. And someone at Boston College needs to learn from the unwanted attention earned this week. It’s hard enough already in Chestnut Hill.

Did Murray waste his time on something that won’t help him, while failing to find the time to acknowledge two people who ended up getting hurt? Even if he didn’t make the call, his first words to them should open his next media session, on behalf of everyone at Boston College.

“We’re sorry.”