ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Anyone who watched Juwan Howard’s introductory news conference will remember the sight of him, statuesque at 6 feet 9, wiping tears of gratitude from his eyes as he reflected on his return to Michigan, the place where he starred as a member of the Fab Five.
Great scene. Unforgettable moment. And, in the end, too good to be true.
Howard was fired Friday afternoon, hours after The Athletic reported Michigan had hired a consulting firm to conduct a review of the men’s basketball program. The 8-24 record in Howard’s fifth season was reason enough for a change, but Michigan might have been able to rationalize the losses if not for the persistent red flags about the program’s culture.
Howard was many things, including a legendary player at Michigan, a stalwart in the NBA and a highly regarded assistant in the Miami Heat organization. One thing he’d never been was a college basketball coach. His inexperience didn’t show at first, but as time went on, Howard’s good qualities were overshadowed by his struggles with the day-to-day aspects of his job.
Too many times, Howard lashed out at his players, his staff or Michigan’s opponents. Some of that was reflected in allegations raised by former strength coach Jon Sanderson, who left the school after a confrontation with Howard in December. Some of it was plain for anybody to see. It’s hard to believe the behind-the-scenes drama didn’t affect Michigan’s play on the court, which became increasingly disconnected and uncompetitive throughout Howard’s tenure.
GO DEEPER
How did Juwan Howard and Michigan basketball fall so far?
What Michigan needs now is a program builder, someone who can bring in the right players and help them improve. The next coach needs to understand the transfer portal and Michigan’s arcane admissions process, needs to foster a healthy culture and needs to excel at coaching the small stuff. If that sounds a lot like the coach Michigan had before Howard, well, yes — the next John Beilein would be great. But college basketball has changed a lot in the past decade, and the next coach needs to be completely comfortable operating in that world.
Florida Atlantic’s Dusty May is a natural fit for a Big Ten job. Oklahoma’s Porter Moser had a great run at Loyola Chicago, and T.J. Otzelberger has Iowa State on the rise. How about Drake’s Darian DeVries or South Florida’s Amir Abdur-Rahim? There are plenty of coaches out there who could bring Michigan back to respectability, but finding one who can win Big Ten championships will be much harder.
GO DEEPER
What we know about Juwan Howard’s status at Michigan amid HR probe
The fact Howard led Michigan to a Big Ten championship just three years ago makes his downfall that much more stunning. Early in his tenure, Howard was winning games, winning over fans and getting Michigan in the door with elite recruits like Caleb Houstan, Moussa Diabate and Kobe Bufkin. When things turned, they turned in a hurry, just like a lot of Michigan games that started well but ended in disaster.
The early success masked the fact that Howard had a lot of growing to do. That was apparent after Howard was suspended for five games for striking Wisconsin assistant Joe Krabbenhoft during a postgame melee in 2022. Michigan gave Howard a second chance and an opportunity to learn from his mistakes. Instead of growth, this season brought only stagnation.
It didn’t help that Howard had heart surgery in September and didn’t return to full coaching duties until December. Before Michigan’s season unraveled, athletic director Warde Manuel seemed inclined to give Howard a chance to reboot the program, just as he did with Jim Harbaugh after the 2020 football season. The case for giving Howard more time fell apart as the losses mounted and Michigan learned more about the culture of the program.
Coming back from heart surgery is no small thing, and Howard had the option to sit out the entire season while he focused on his recovery. If he had done that, he likely would have kept his job for at least another year. But Howard is a competitor, and it’s a competitor’s instinct to come back as soon as possible. By taking charge of the team in December, Howard also took responsibility for the results.
“I could have sat the season out,” Howard said Sunday, “but that’s not how I’m wired.”
Michigan finished the 2023-24 season 8-24, its worst record since the 1959-60 season. (Kamil Krzaczynski / USA Today)
Howard returned to the bench at the Battle 4 Atlantis and was ejected from a game in which he wasn’t officially the head coach. The confrontation with Sanderson occurred not long after. Even with so much happening behind the scenes, Michigan won at Iowa on Dec. 10 and beat Eastern Michigan in Howard’s first game back to improve to 6-5.
At that point, it looked as if the Wolverines might be able to tread water in the Big Ten and buy Howard another year to fix the program. Instead, they sank like a stone, going 2-19 the rest of the season. No reset button in the world can wipe away an 8-24 season or the internal friction that surfaced in Sanderson’s complaint. Moving on was the only option.
“I love everything about this school,” Howard said after his final game at Crisler Center, an 85-70 loss to Nebraska on Senior Day. “I love everything about my job. I really appreciate Warde Manuel taking a chance on me and giving me this opportunity of being a head coach with no collegiate head coaching experience, but at the same time trusting the vision. We’re going to grind like no other this summer to work on getting better.”
He’s right. For the next six months, Michigan will be working night and day to dig its men’s basketball program out of this hole. But now it’s someone else’s job.
(Top photo: Tommy Gilligan / USA Today)
