UWM Panthers Announcer Quits in Epic Instagram Blast; Trashes Staff

Posted on by

The long-time voice of the UW-Milwaukee Men’s Basketball team, Bill Johnson, quit his job Friday in an emotional missive via Instagram that slammed the Panthers program and higher-ups in very personal terms, equating the program to the “Titanic.”

“I would say it’s taking the last life boat off the Titanic, but that would be unfair to the crew of the Titanic,” wrote Johnson, in the Instagram post that he cross-published on his personal Twitter and Facebook pages. He continued, “Never have so many competant (sic), talented people been run off by such a talentless group of entitled beaurocrats (sic). No matter how much the coaches, players, and support staff care, they can’t overcome incompetent administrators…UWM leads the world in incompetent administrators.”

He expressed good luck to his friends who are still “imprisoned” at UWM Athletics, and expressed support for new coach LaVall Jordan, suggesting he “win and get out quick” because staying long-term in UWM Athletics is “fatal.”

It was a tumultuous day for UWM men’s basketball on the heels of a tumultuous month, that saw the controversial firing of long-time coach Rob Jeter, the hiring of Jordan from Michigan, and the team not being allowed to compete in the post-season. In addition to the Johnson blast, Panther Akeem Springs announced Friday that he has  committed to the Minnesota Gophers.

Johnson tweeted a picture of Springs in a Gopher jersey, wishing him “best of luck.”

UWM’s response was a lot less… emotional. “Bill Johnson has been the long-time voice of the Milwaukee men’s basketball team,” Bill Behrns, senior associate Athletic Director at UWM, told Media Milwaukee on Friday. “Serving in that capacity, he has worked under contracts on a year-to-year basis. He has made the public decision to not pursue the position next season. We wish him well.” Media Milwaukee sent the request for comment to Behrns, Athletic Director Amanda Braun, and a UWM PR spokesman, and Behrns responded.

Later in the day, UWM released another statement. It said, “In the social media posting announcing his decision not to pursue his position next season, Bill Johnson – the longtime voice of the Milwaukee men’s basketball team – was highly critical of the UWM administration and Athletic Department. We believe his comments are unwarranted and unfair and are likely motivated by his own suspension from his position in February for making racially insensitive remarks during the broadcast of a Panther game. Johnson was allowed to return to his duties after apologizing to a player and the coach of an opposing team.” 

In the lengthy Instagram post, Johnson describes administrators as “incompetent.” He criticizes four “awful” athletic directors such as, former Packers linebacker George Koonce, Rick Costello, Andy Geiger, and Braun. Johnson bashes Braun, current AD, and says that she is a “deplorable human being” who is “horribly underqualified” and bad at her job.

Johnson's public Facebook profile picture.
Johnson’s public Facebook profile picture.

Braun has received a lot of heat for firing Jeter, which she defended in a sitdown interview with Media Milwaukee this week (stay tuned). The firing of Jeter provoked four basketball players – Springs, Jordan Johnson, Austin Arians, and Cody Wichmann – to request release.

Continued Johnson’s Instagram post:

“Those in charge of the UW System have failed to hire effective administrators. Failed. F F F F!”

Johnson ended his rant by thanking the coaches and players for the past 17 seasons. The players, coaches, parents, and fans have been like his second family, he said.

Johnson called the play-by-play for the Panther men’s basketball team for 16 years. He also hosted a weekly one-hour talk show with Rob Jeter on WISN and a show on Time Warner Sports. In a PR profile, he said he started out “doing color for UW-Stevens Point football games on the campus TV station.”

On Facebook, friends posted on Johnson’s thread comments ranging from “That’s an exit George Castanza (sic) would admire: to “Bill, bridges that lead to nowhere need to be burned” to “Bill, as an alumnus of UWM, I simply say, bravo!” to “Cardinal Stritch could use an experienced announcer.” The post on Facebook had garnered 196 like, sad and wow emotiocons and 18 shares by midday Friday.

One of his Facebook readers commented, “That’s what you call burning the house down as you run out of it” to which Johnson’s Facebook friend, Michelle Johnson, posted, “Or just telling the truth after watching the administration start small fires for years and thinking they got away with it…I know that Bill has been struggling with this for a long time. He LOVES his job. He has supported the team as he knew how and to watch it fall down like a house of cards with shady and hurtful behavior by those that call themselves leaders, it just became too much. It is sad because this was his family for years. Those kids, while not being his biologically, were HIS kids and he had proud ‘Dad,’ moments watching their successes.

The decision to hit “send”, today is on his own terms, however, it was made clear to him that his contract was in question for next year. The writing was on the wall (or hidden in some secret file…so to speak). Hard to know that posting this has made the man of many words, speechless. I know that this was one of the hardest decisions he has ever had to make and I am sorry to see this. We both will miss our Panther Family.”

Media Milwaukee asked Behrns whether Johnson was told his contract was being non-renewed before the blast, and will update the story if a response is received. “No decision had yet been made on renewing Mr. Johnson’s contract,” Behrns said.

Johnson wrote, “Before the decision is made for me, I am officially announcing my retirement as the voice of Milwaukee Panthers Men’s basketball.”

Springs tweeted and retweeted many times Friday confirming the news about Minnesota. One of his retweets:

Springs also retweeted a comment critical of how he was treated at UWM.