Column on Juwan Howard's Michigan legacy
I thought that the column below is worth a read. The writer isn't questioning the firing decision, but instead points out that Juwan Howard's Michigan legacy is more than the low points of his time as coach. While Webber was likely more talented, he was my favorite of the Fab Five. I've only met him briefly, but I have a friend who was the TA for one of his classes and another who taught him as a professor, and both can't say enough good things about him. Even with the team's collapse this year and disappointment last year it should be acknowledged that the elite 8 and sweet 16 years happened.
My point is that with his gracious tweet after the firing, and attendance at the woman's game Saturday in LA, I hope that signals that he wants to stay connected to the University, and if he does that the athletic department will welcome that:
Didn't know he went to the women's game Saturday - that is class. As for his professors... Well, he finished his degree on airplanes while playing in the NBA. So yeah, the dude was serious about playing school. And like I said the day he was released, he had better never have to pay for his own beer in Ann Arbor.
Not breaking any news here, but re: the correspondence degree, two thing:
1) It was harder to do back then and really required commitment.
2) Part of that commitment was living up to a promise to his grandmother (who raised him but sadly passed away before his time at Michigan.
I'm in the "Juwan is a good dude" camp.
Agreed. Nobody's perfect, and some of us have flaws (and lives) that are more visible than others. By all accounts, Juwan Howard has always tried to live the right way, even though his temper gets the better of him on occasion. I will always be a fan of Howard, even if he wasn't the right fit for this particular job at this particular time.
I think the temper issue arose because he felt overwhelmed, because he knew that he was in over his head. Juwan was done a disservice by being given the head coaching job. He was ill-prepared to be the head coach of a major, top 15 college basketball program.
Not only did he not have any head coaching experience, his only experience with the college game was as a player 25 years prior to his hiring. Everything about the job was going to be on the job training. I don't know why so many folks (him and Warde included, apparently) thought that this unprecedented hiring would reap benefits. Aside from the weird Covid year, the team underperformed every season.
I think he is a good dude, as well. The circumstances simply got the better of him.
I never quite understood the issue after the Wisconsin game where the University quickly fell on its sword. Please correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Greg Gard grab Juwan after the game to talk to him when Juwan was looking to exit and was hot over a Wisconsin timeout and then when a scuffle broke out Juwan lashed out after an assistant shoved a Michigan player?
If that's the case, I'd be in lots of trouble as I would do the same thing if I were a coach. You don't push another team's players.
Two seasons ago, who would have expected that with three incredibly talented players, DIckinson, Howard and Bufkin, that the team would not have performed better.
Then things went to hell this season and the Sanderson episode occurred.
Sometimes things just don't work out. Whatever chemistry the team had in its first four years evaporated.
I wish Juwan well and hope he knocks it out of the park with whatever he does next.
Juwan didn't handle it well but Wisconsin basketball plays pretty dirty.
I've been beyond impressed with how well Juwan has handled what has to have been a painful process. Better, I have to say, than I would have. And if he's able to stomach coming back to Crisler to watch a game next year, I think it would be awesome for the fans to give him a big ovation. Let's keep him in the family.
"fergodsakes"
Juwan is a Michigan man forever. He had some highs and lows as Men's Basketball coach and ultimately it did not work out for the long term, but he will always be a Michigan legend.
Juwan's story, to me, is a reminder that we are all human and to prop anyone up or condemn anyone is to refuse to acknowledge the complexity of the human experience. We are all the dark and the light. I wish Juwan's tenure had gone differently in many ways, including those off the court. It doesn't excuse any of the issues to say he's done a lot for this school and his legacy will still be intact here at Michigan. It's also fair to say there has been some significant damage done here (Sanderson leaving, program bottoming out, roster decimation) that needs to be rectified and will have to be a part of the discussion of Juwan moving forward. He put his hat in the ring, and his story is, like so many before him, not a straight line to glory. Things didn't go the way he or any of us would have hoped. Juwan and Michigan will both survive and go on to better things, I've got no doubt.
^^This.
Reminds me of this:
And this is why the Michigan Daily front page pissed people off. It ignored (or almost mocked) the rest of Juwan’s legacy.
Yea, a sensationalist headline mocking Juwan on his way out was a dickbag move by them. Insane people didn't see any problem with it.
I've been a fan of his since he was a player here, and wish him the best going forward, but I don't really get the uproar over the headline. "Fab Failure"? A bit harsh but coming off an 8-24 season, I can't really say it's wrong.
I'll defend the Daily most of the time. It's a student newspaper. If people want to go after professional journalists, ok, but cut the students some slack.
The only thing the headline said was the he failed (in his duties as coach). Are you disputing that after they won only 8 games all year? Yeah admissions and all that, but 8 wins is a failure.
You're either being deliberately obtuse or you're just wholly ignorant if you think the one and only thing the headline said was "failure." The failure part was not the part everyone had a problem with. Stop feigning stupidity to defend this.
It said "Fab 5 Failure," how is that different?
You're so close...
C'mon, you can get it!
What did it say then?
March 25th, 2024 at 10:03 PM ^
Read it one more time. You can do it!
Now you're just trolling.
Juwan's legacy as a player cannot be tainted by his time as a coach.
Juwan's legacy as a player is 100% irrelevant to his legacy as a coach.
I hope that signals that he wants to stay connected to the University,
Juwan is an alumni of the University of Michigan. He will stay connected to it until the day he dies.
In many ways I feel the same about his departure as I did Hoke's. Both got their dream job, both tried their very hardest and both ultimately failed. I feel bad for both of them as people for that.
I have seen a lot of hate for Juwan on reddit and twitter, so it's refreshing to come here and not see upvoted comments calling him a "thug piece of shit" who should never be welcomed back to Michigan after ruining our program. Dude will forever be a part of Michigan and CBB history as a member of the Fab Five. Regardless of how his tenure turned out at the end (very poorly!) he still worked his ass off for Michigan and gave us some good years. His legacy, to me at least, is still a positive one.
Juwan Howard is a Michigan legend, and we're lucky to have him as a Wolverine. His tenure as HC of the team didn't work out, but that's hardly a moral failing. In fact, here's a mini-rant: we as a country have a really bad habit of associating earthly success with virtue and earthly failings with poor character. This is a terrible and corrosive way of viewing life! These are distinct issues.
Anyway, I'm grateful for this column. And thanks for posting, OP.
Losing basketball games and not being a good Head Coach are not moral failings.
Taking a swing at an opposing coach when you're supposed to be a leader of young men setting an example for your team was a moral failing.
Trying to start a fight with your teams strength coach who was standing up for a member of his staff and trying to stop the abusive behavior of your kid was a moral failing. Letting the strength coach lose his job because even after the fact you couldn't take responsibility for your actions was a moral failing.
"Earthly failings....." Are there any other kind? Yes, there is a moral vacuousness associated with on field sports success. Yes, people are more complicated than descriptions assigned to them. While there seems to be a hidden subtext to your comment, even where religion or faith fit into the picture all of this seems contained within an "earthly" context (including the spiritual). Interestingly enough while we are more than how we are viewed, one's character does bear fruit in this life, on this earth and in this reality.
I was speaking loosely and--I assure you--not trying to convert anyone to a religion. And I agree with your last sentence.
Sorry, I'm sensitive to how words operate and what they functionally mean, and having been raised evangelical in West Michigan the same language can have a plurality of meaning.
No problem at all! You made a good point.
I agree.
Same goes for Brady Hoke.
His time at Michigan was rough at the end, but he is a good dude and just couldn't get it done. Would like to see him brought back to an event one day to get his applause as he deserves.
I will have many good lasting memories of Juwann but one that will stand out is genuine exuberance and happiness hugging Jim Harbaugh after his 1st coaching victory over OSU.
Yeah, he seemed to genuinely love being associated with Michigan — and the sports teams — as much as (or more than) any other coach I can remember in my lifetime. Damn, I wish it had worked out. I was so excited to have him as our head coach those first two years ...
JH's tenure wasn't a total disaster. I wish things had worked out differently. He deserves all due credit for two nice tournament runs and a big ten championship. He absolutely accomplished something at UM. He did this as a first time HC having to deal with covid and a shifting landscape of college bball.
He also should have been immediately fired after striking another adult in the face.
Finally, I am unsure why everyone believes his tweet post firing was so gracious. It wasn't bad by any means, but it was certainly table stakes at best. Mostly a ton of self promotion.
I will be cheering for Juwan wherever he ends up next. I believe a successful HC career is still in front of him.
Go Blue.
Given that someone somewhere was leaking info about this report into his culture to dirty his rep right before firing him, I was beyond thrilled to see Juwan take the high road. I would love for the program and school to still have Howard's support moving forward in whatever way he's willing give it.
Juwan Howard is an eternal Wolverine legend and a true blue Michigan Man.
Feels a lot like the Brady Hoke firing. They are both good dudes, but in the end it just did not work out.
The way I see it, there will never a shortage of people in Ann Arbor who will adore Juwan Howard because he was very good at playing basketball for their favorite team when they were young. It's a powerful thing.
I think objectively his tenure as Michigan basketball coach was pretty much a disaster. A clear and escalating downward trend and a ton of drama.
I remember when he was hired, there was a subset of fans who were glad to see the back of Beilein and his development-focused approach. They were jealous of the likes of Duke, Kansas and Kentucky. They thought Howard's NBA pedigree and young and accessible demeanor would make Michigan attractive for top of the line future lottery picks. It never happened and Michigan was stuck in no man's land. No long term strategy, no short-term fixes. What success Howard had, it can mostly be attributed to what Beilein had left behind.
I think if Juwan Howard had played his college ball somewhere else, he (1) wouldn't have gotten the job and (2) if he somehow had gotten the job he'd be widely loathed. I'm not saying that would be fair, but it'd be a likely reality. This tenure was in many ways worse than Rich Rod's at Michigan and Rich Rod got *tons* of hate.
Kinda. But Rich Rod was (and remains) a dick, and Juwan is a pretty classy, respectful guy.
Also, at least one year he had the overall #1 recruiting class in the country, didn't he? Those players didn't work out at Michigan — though, in fact many of them became first-round NBA draft picks — but to suggest his recruiting "never happened" is not quite accurate.
I had no idea his Michigan Legacy was in question. He was the main architect in recruiting the Fab 5. They had their style, and uniqueness that was a huge influence to our culture. They made it to back to back NCAA finals (Belien's teams made it to 2 too), and were a bad possession away from winning the second one, after getting beat by a very veteran, very talented Duke the year before.
As Alum, Webber, Howard, and Rose, all had stellar playing careers in the NBA and always came across as great people who gave back (especially Howard) to the communities. Webb and Rose were great as personalities in the media (I love watching C-Webb on old open court episodes) and Howard came to back to Michigan and loved it, bringing his kids here to experience Michigan with him.
He had 3 good years, and 2 bad years. The coaching incidents where he lost his temper are bad looks, and I think helped in the decision to let him go, along with the bad recruiting, and bad two seasons. But Michigan is not under sanctions, and not tarnished. Left as a Michigan Man with an amazing message out.
Two years of under performing coaching would never come close to defining who he is, what he has done for the University, and how he is as a Michigan Man.
I have an FedEx form that Howard signed back when the Fab Five days. It’s one of the possessions I have that I truly prize.
Some on here got it in their heads that I hated Howard because I thought he should have been fired for slapping a rival coach.
When I expressed that opinion I did so not with glee but profound disappointment that a guy who I legitimately admired possessed a personality flaw that made his continued employment as HC impossible.
This isn’t to say that I think him a bad man. I don’t. I just think that he needs to undergo therapy as I have done for the anger issues that he is struggling with. Hopefully he gets the help he needs and is once again coaching basketball. He has a lot to offer.
But more than that I hope he gets healthy and lives a long life. Heart problems are not to be trifled with. He has “bank”. He doesn’t need to coach. I would like to see him in an emeritus/ambassador role like JB or Sander and Calvin with the Lions.
30 years ago Juwan Howard was kind of enough to sign an FedEx for a kid he never met(a co-worker of my dad asked him for my dad). That simple act of generosity has lasted the decades.
I look forward to his public appearance at a basketball game and for the crowd to give him a huge ovation and the love he deserves. he'll always be a michigan man
I will always like anyone who loves Michigan as much (or more than) as I. Juwan had issues and was ultimately over his head as coach, but nobody is perfect and I applaud that he gave his all to try to make Michigan better. Not everything has a fairy tale ending.
I still love Juwan. Just didn’t work out as our head coach. He should be welcome in AA in any other context.
Juwan has always been one of my favorite basketball players at Michigan. I loved the Fab Five and still do. He has always seemed to be a man of integrity and class, despite his occasional lapses of anger. The fact is though, that for whatever reason he seemed to be in over his head here and sadly things just didn't work out. Doesn't change the fact that he will always be a Michigan Man worthy of the title.
March 26th, 2024 at 12:29 AM ^
In my mind, the post mortem is that he just wasn't ready to lead a program. Early on, his shortcomings were masked by his having inherited a program in pristine condition and hitting home runs on some early recruits (Hunter Dickinson, Franz Wagner) and transfers (Chaundee Brown, Mike Smith) who maintained the winning culture that Beilein had established. But as the Beilein core turned over, he struggled to build a winning culture of his own.
March 26th, 2024 at 12:17 AM ^
It's really unfortunate the way it ended. In hindsight, it would have been better if he had gotten his first HC gig somewhere else.
Juwan's accolades on the court are well-known and widely acknowledged. What I choose to remember about him is that his beloved grandmother who raised him died the day he signed his LOI, and he kept a promise he made to her by getting his degree with his graduating class despite leaving early to play in the NBA. That's integrity.