Jett says he was set on Tennessee and then changed his mind
https://thespun.com/big-ten/michigan-wolverines/jett-howard-commitment-michigan-juwan-son-tennessee
Im not sure if I buy this or not. If he says it’s true I will take his word for it, but him committing anywhere but UM always seemed extremely unlikely. I wonder if he is embellishing his UT interest a little. But either way, glad we got him.
October 15th, 2021 at 12:07 PM ^
Cruitin'!
October 15th, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
He said from the beginning that he wanted to have a normal recruitment despite who his dad was. My guess is he was always going to go to Michigan, but he really enjoyed Tennessee and wants it known that he could have gone there instead. Just so people don't think he's only at Michigan for his dad.
October 15th, 2021 at 12:13 PM ^
Yeah, I agree. I think there was serious legit interest in Tenn but he was leaning Michigan for quite some time. I think he’s not wanting to undersell the process he was involved in and how appreciative he was of everyone who recruited him.
October 16th, 2021 at 2:57 AM ^
One could speculate that by going through the recruiting process, he did Juwan a solid. By having a public recruitment, it became more of a thing that Juwan got a commitment from a top 40 recruit that other programs wanted. It made a little extra buzz around Juwan and Michigan. It won’t lower the odds of a Traore or whomever giving M another glance.
October 15th, 2021 at 12:13 PM ^
Say it ain't so, Joe!
October 15th, 2021 at 12:19 PM ^
I would change my mind as well if I didn't want my stuff ending up on the front lawn when I got back home :) /s
October 15th, 2021 at 3:42 PM ^
LOL. All his inheritance written in a will to UofM unless.... :)
October 16th, 2021 at 11:13 AM ^
Yeah it would suck being grounded for your first semester of college.
October 15th, 2021 at 12:22 PM ^
FWIW, if my dad were the head coach at Michigan, I definitely would have gone elsewhere.
October 15th, 2021 at 12:28 PM ^
Yeah, I mean I love my dad and all, but I wouldn't have wanted to stay another four years under his thumb at that particular stage of my life.
Juwan and Jett obviously have a very healthy relationship.
October 15th, 2021 at 12:41 PM ^
It probably wasn't until I was over the age of 30 that the idea of working with my dad had any appeal, in college I wanted to be away from my parents. I get the impression that people expect kids to want to play for their dad 99%of the time if the opportunity exists, I'd think it would be more like 50%.
October 15th, 2021 at 3:36 PM ^
I don't think the NCAA would appreciate my dad smacking me around on the sideline if I was in that situation.
October 15th, 2021 at 6:57 PM ^
I think it's different because Juwan is always on the road due to his playing and professional career in the NBA but I do understand your point.
October 15th, 2021 at 12:53 PM ^
Logged in just to upvote. Was gonna say the same thing for me personally, but my kids (who are 3, 6, and 9) have politely asked me not to coach any of their sports again. Ok, I was lying. They didn't do it politely.
October 15th, 2021 at 1:44 PM ^
Yeah, I love my dad and always have (no teen rebellion years or anything) but I would not have wanted to play ball for him. I'm not sure he would have wanted to coach me.
October 15th, 2021 at 1:51 PM ^
Me too. Nothing against my dad, but he didn't know shit about basketball, so I don't think he would've been a very good coach.
October 15th, 2021 at 2:24 PM ^
Is that you, Riley Crean?
October 15th, 2021 at 2:20 PM ^
Yeah, there would be some "oil and water" moments if it were my own dad coaching me, and mainly because we are eerily alike (strong personalities, tendency to take over, etc...).
October 15th, 2021 at 2:22 PM ^
Plot twist ... Your dad in this scenario is Juwan Howard. Now would you play for your dad?
October 15th, 2021 at 2:23 PM ^
I did coach one of my daughters in her peewee soccer team (I know next to zilch about soccer, but at 8-9 years old what few fundamentals I did know, and making sure they had fun and snacks after the game, were enough), and one summer rec league swim season (my first of many swim coaching gigs). They were big teams with several coaches; it was fine.
I can see the point about some separation from your parents in college. OTOH your Dad is JUWAN FREAKING HOWARD! Only the hottest coach in CBB and a guru coaching the very position you play. You can live in the dorms and keep some separation of your academic and social life from Pops.
October 15th, 2021 at 3:04 PM ^
i don’t know that i’d say the same thing, but - for example - i wonder if jim boeheim’s kid is really good, or if it’s an opportunity thing.
i know he’s terrific, by the way, but it does nag at the back of my mind, even though i know better. i wouldn’t blame anyone for wanting to try to prove themselves on their own.
October 15th, 2021 at 3:28 PM ^
Totally. Your dad sucks.
October 15th, 2021 at 3:40 PM ^
my dad didn't know sports enough to coach at any high level so i really couldn't answer that accurately.
i have coached all my sons in football, hockey and wrestling, with football being 'king' and still on-going in our house. i have coveted the time to do it. i think the boys are/were glad and they have never voiced displeasure. we've had winning seasons at most everything, so maybe that helps too?
October 15th, 2021 at 6:13 PM ^
I'm probably very late to the party because I don't check this site as often as I once did, but your user name looks somewhat familiar, so . . .
October 15th, 2021 at 12:25 PM ^
Mama bear would have had words
October 15th, 2021 at 12:36 PM ^
Kingslayer!!
October 15th, 2021 at 12:32 PM ^
Bag men!
October 15th, 2021 at 12:36 PM ^
You'd make a good TV commentator predicting games: flipping from "not sure" to "take his word for it" to "extremely unlikely."
— Just joking, not criticizing. (We all do the same.)
October 15th, 2021 at 12:39 PM ^
I hear Tennessee has a lot of bags from McDonald's...
October 15th, 2021 at 12:43 PM ^
Hell people in Tennessee are starting to believe him. Never in a million years I would have thought that. Selling Michigan jerseys is a good start.
October 15th, 2021 at 1:58 PM ^
I haven't seen someone reference this in a long, long time. Well done indeed.
October 15th, 2021 at 2:04 PM ^
The original interaction made me laugh so hard for days. That’s the only poster I have really wanted to meet in real life from this board.
October 15th, 2021 at 12:46 PM ^
I heard it was Bruce Pearl taking his shirt off on tv that flipped Jett to Michigan
October 15th, 2021 at 1:03 PM ^
Why would the actions of the head coach at Auburn influence Jett’s decision about attending Tennessee?
October 15th, 2021 at 1:23 PM ^
Don't stop him...he's on a roll.
October 15th, 2021 at 2:33 PM ^
The Germans?
October 15th, 2021 at 1:32 PM ^
time is a flat circle and it's 2011 again
October 15th, 2021 at 12:47 PM ^
Funny thing about his recruitment is that schools couldn’t use the bag man approach. “Hey Dad, look at what Tennessee is offering me…”
Although guessing the Howards aren’t exactly strapped for cash.
October 15th, 2021 at 1:00 PM ^
Would it be an NCAA violation for Juwan to threaten leaving Jett out of his will if he didn't sign with Michigan? :)
October 15th, 2021 at 1:04 PM ^
There is no amount of money that Tennessee could reasonably offer Jett (even if Jett was the top recruit in the class) that would meaningfully move the needle for their family. Bag men aren't super effective for a recruit whose dad is worth 50 million bucks, nor is that their target audience.
October 15th, 2021 at 4:55 PM ^
Howard's net worth is actually closer to $100M than $50M
October 15th, 2021 at 12:50 PM ^
Are there a lot of examples of sons who chose not to play for their father? I can think of Mike Bibby not playing for Henry Bibby at USC, but they had no relationship so that’s not surprising.
October 15th, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
Aubrey Dawkins played at UM for a couple years before transferring to his dad at UCF.
October 15th, 2021 at 2:05 PM ^
Yeah I am too actually surprised by the number of sons who play for their fathers. I would have hated it, though if I were a top recruit and I think I could have helped my father succeed, I can see that appeal too. Bryce Drew played for Homer. Alfords played for Steve. McCaffrey's kids at Iowa, although one may have portal'd out? Pat Knight played at IU for Bobby. Buddy Boeheim. Got to be many more ... Others?
October 15th, 2021 at 4:01 PM ^
Got to be many more ... Others?
Patrick Belein also played for his dad at WVU.
There are actually some interesting recruiting issues that come into play in these situations. John Belein's wikipedia page has a paragraph talking about the things he couldn't do while recruiting his own son:
When Patrick was a highly recruited high school basketball player, John was restricted by NCAA rules from some normal behaviors regarding his son, such as giving his son's teammates a ride home from practice, talking with his son at a basketball camp or discussing his son's abilities with news media, because the interactions of college coaches with recruits are restricted... Beilein had to follow recruiting rules when visiting his son at a basketball camp... In short, talking to coaches not employed by a camp is not allowed during the camp, which left Beilein unable to offer his son milk money.
October 16th, 2021 at 9:38 AM ^
Saul Smith played for Tubby at UK.
And in football, Jason Carr played for Lloyd.
October 15th, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
It's probably true. I totally believe it. He probably wanted to go to Tennessee... and then his dad got the job at Michigan.
October 15th, 2021 at 4:07 PM ^
Yep just a couple years ago no one would have imagined his dad would be a college head coach