Quinn: Howard Likely Back Next Year

he thinks Warde gives Juwan a Harbaugh-like chance to reset the program with big changes to the staff and roster.

This roster is probably the best it's been in the past few years on paper and changed drastically stylistically from last season. The one constant is Juwan who hasn't been able to construct a cohesive roster since he had Beilein's guys

Michigan screwed up by not hiring a proven college coach. The NBA is so much different than college basketball and he doesn’t know what he’s doing. How can Juwan fix the program if he doesn’t know why or what is wrong with it?

Agreed that this is dumb. But does anyone really trust Warde to make a good hire?  Maybe in a year it’ll be someone else’s decision to make. 

Looking forward to another hodgepodge mix of recruits and transfers next year that play inconstantly and incoherently.

Using the front page metrics that suggest a 2-9 close to the year, is a 9-19 year not COVID on par with a 2-4 outlier year after being highly competitive, sans OSU?  That would be the only reach to explain why Howard gets a bonus year.  Well, that and Stapleton probably is a huge fan of Howard's. 

The season isn't over. Let's see if the team shows signs of growth and development. OSU might just be a single random data point, or it might be the start of a trend. If it's the latter, I think he'll deserve a shot at righting the ship.

That Ohio State win may have saved Howard. Hopefully the program can get something going with another win tonight against Illinois. The team has the talent to go on a run. 

Not a fan, the team sucks and hasn't been good for years. They get worse every year and Dug will probably leave at the end of the year. 

Roster will once again be worse, because Howard is bad at managing a roster and coaching them up once they get here anyway.

I have been very critical of Howard pretty much since the 2nd half vs UCLA in 2021 (a game THAT team had no business of losing). If we had a good core of young guys who seem to just need another year, I would be willing to accept this. Right now we have 1/2 suspended PG and a C in Reed who has not taken the leap at all. Most of our other rotation guys are portal additions who don’t really move the needle aside from Olivier but he’s gone after this year. Williams has a Covid year but who knows. 

Howard’s last two years have been a debacle. Last year we had two lottery picks and a 3x All-B1G player and we weren’t even among the first 8 out. Now, one of those lottery picks was a net negative on the floor, but it happened to be his son which is a major mark on his coaching. The year before we saw the same thing with Houstan. 

Harbaugh went 9-4 and 2-4 in his final two seasons before the pay cut. Howard has gone from probably Sweet 16 if not for Covid, Elite Eight, Sweet 16, to NIT, to not even CBI level. Harbaugh took a program that went 7-6 and 5-7 to 10 wins year one and a couple inches from the CFP in year two. With a much better situation, Howard maintained our status quo while the last of the Beilein players remained (and he can thank Eli for saving the 2021-22 season) to Ellerbe level in 2 1/2 seasons.

I will gladly eat a lemon, but I do not see a scenario where we make the tournament next year, and for a program that won 2 conference championships, 2 BTT titles, and made the NCG 2x in the decade previous, this is a drastic decline that will take a very long time to get out of.

The fact that he missed much of the preseason and season with his aortic aneurysm and open heart surgery could also factor into this decision. I’m not  saying I support the decision to retain him regardless of the outcome of the rest of he season, but I have to think the health issue would be a significant factor to give him another opportunity.

Why does anyone want to listen to this BS after SpyGate? 

I'm not surprised. Despite the problems repeatedly identified here and elsewhere, his heart attack does make the year atypical.

Good.  We have an excellent coaching staff in place (coaches don't forget how to coach).  Remember his early years. 

Lots of work needed in roster development.  Needs more longer term players and less one and dones to develop continuity.  Juwan is a smart man who can learn and improve.

Successful organizations are the ones with stability.

Neg away.  :)

Juwan Howard was for all intents and purposes hit by a freight train with regard to his health/surgery/etc. I am all for giving him another year to get back on track (inadvertent pun, I swear...!).

I want Warde gone before there's a coaching search in any sport!

The problem is you can't just overhaul a coaching staff in basketball and make things better. The team is constructed poorly with no shooters, no leaders, and a point guard that thinks he's Russell Westbrook but is too short to get to the hole strong. This team needs a full rebuild. It's not going to get better over one season.

It’s not altogether surprising. Howard has been out this year with the health issues, so I can understand getting a bonus year.

With that said, the trajectory for the program has been down for a few years now, and I don’t expect a turnaround next year.

I sometimes wonder if Juwan knew this season would suck based on departures and incoming portal guys and didn't replace his assistants because he knew he'd probably get that one chance to replace his staff before he was fired, so basically it bought him another year.  Howard has a borderline 5 star coming in next year in Rooths and can go portal hunting again and maybe not spend so much time going after guys who will have trouble getting in unlike the last 2 years.