Michigan Daily got spanked, changes Juwan firing headline
The Michigan Daily posted its front page for Juwan Howard's firing online and was taken to the woodshed. It was quite shameful and disrespectful. No matter how his tenure ended here, he's still a legendary Michigan basketball figure.
https://twitter.com/michigandaily/status/1770287922543202363
Thankfully they announced they're changing it for the print edition, although I haven't seen what the new version is.
March 20th, 2024 at 11:05 AM ^
Yeah I don’t see the issue with original headline. Truth hurts
March 20th, 2024 at 11:10 AM ^
Yeah, there's no other way to view his time here than as a failure. The team went from pretty good to awful in his five years. That's a failure.
I don't fault the Daily at all.
March 20th, 2024 at 11:21 AM ^
Further, it’s funny. The headline has nothing to do with anything other than a fan base getting through another round of fandom.
It's a joke based on alliteration: Each word starts with "F."
Not that creative or particularly clever, but not cruel either.
It's a B- joke and doesn't need to be removed, in this dad-jokester's opinion.
March 20th, 2024 at 11:42 AM ^
He had heart surgery in mid-September and should not have coached at all this season (just recruited and low-stress activities) and have come back in full next year.
March 20th, 2024 at 11:57 AM ^
Recruiting is a low stress activity? 😂
March 20th, 2024 at 11:43 AM ^
It really, really does.
And I say this in all seriousness as I’m wearing my Fab 5 maize baggy shorts…
March 20th, 2024 at 11:57 AM ^
It's sensationalist and rubbing it in the face of a guy who was a bad coach, but by all accounts worked his ass off for the University. Shows a lack of class and looks more like a tabloid rag than what we'd expect from The Daily.
March 20th, 2024 at 12:19 PM ^
The word “failure” is sensationalist? Really?
I’m not a big “society is growing soft” guy but honestly, the idea that someone went to the Daily and complained about this is … pretty soft.
The Daily should have stood its ground.
March 20th, 2024 at 12:33 PM ^
The Daily did nothing wrong here.
Ok. I'm sure they won't change the headline for the print edition, if they did nothing wrong.
March 20th, 2024 at 12:46 PM ^
It’s not the word ‘failure.’ It’s the addition of Fab and the typeface and size of the type. Those choices were meant to be sensationalist. If they had said, “The Juwan years were ultimately a failure,”that would’ve been true and not sensational.
It's not the word failure that's low class, it's pairing it with Fab that's questionable.
And if you look at the full body of work, failure doesn’t apply either. He was the BIG & national coach of the year. He got to the elite 8 & sweet 16. He was let go after a terrible year and a bad couple of years with little hope for a turn around.
The Daily headline is sensationalist and classless. Failure doesn’t apply and it’s an insult to the Fab Five. I would downvote the headline but I am not going to downvote the user who created this post.
March 20th, 2024 at 12:00 PM ^
I agree it was a failure for Juwan, but my issue is that this makes it look like the blame is solely on Juwan. It's a program failure. Juwan contributed. Our transfer policy and NIL contributed. The athletic department contributed. A good reflection of that is comparing our home games to other programs (even in the good years). Michigan does not offer the same atmosphere for college basketball that elite (or even average programs) offer. A Rutgers home crowd seems electric in comparison to Crisler.
March 20th, 2024 at 12:16 PM ^
Agreed. I think there is a very dumb portion of this fanbase who think that a simple coaching change is all that's needed to have a successful basketball team again. Without institutional changes, we will be a mediocre program at best going forward.
March 20th, 2024 at 12:46 PM ^
"Without institutional changes, we will be a mediocre program at best going forward."
...and mediocre would be a significant improvement over this year.
Mediocre means "of only moderate quality" - not bad.
Michigan has plenty of NIL money. I’m sorry I’m done listening to this excuse. Coaches and players are going to insiders complaining about NIL money because they always want more!
Kid at AA Huron just committed to Iowa State. Juwan and staff barely did a thing with him.
Juwan was a complete failure all the way around
•Juwan was a complete failure all the way around
Strongly disagree.
To directly address your NIL comment: could Juwan somehow just unilaterally decide to offer NIL money, over and above whatever the University-approved NIL program(s) available to him?
Beyond that, what about the unyielding pencil-pushers in the admissions office? What about Warde and others in the hierarchy who were slow to get NIL going as a functioning asset to the program? What about the kids in the program who may have made poor decisions on whether and when to apply for the NBA draft? Or the student-athlete who failed to hold up his end of the academic bargain, then missed several games this season? Players who were allergic to playing defense?
I could go on and on but won't.
Yes, Juwan has his own deficiencies as a head coach---roster construction, well-documented temper problems, shortfalls in recruiting among them.
But complete failure all the way around?
Oh, hell no.
Hey guys, real quick who’s the head of the program?
The head of the program or the head coach? The coach can't decide what the hurdles are for players transferring in (hurdles that other schools don't have). The coach can't decide whether or not the lower bowl of Crisler is full of non-students. Your question is impossible to answer, which is part of the problem with Michigan. Who actually has power to make changes? Warde? Santa? Department heads? The Regents?
March 20th, 2024 at 12:09 PM ^
The headline is a bit petty, but the bigger issue is the Fab 5 reference. if Coach Howard would’ve won a national title, it’s unlikely that the Fab 5 would be referenced. With the disappointment of his coaching tenure, the reference feels like a cheap pile-on.
March 20th, 2024 at 12:38 PM ^
He coached here five seasons. Three NCAA tournament appearances*. Won a Big Ten Title. Earned a one seed. Made a sweet sixteen. Made an elite eight without the team's leading scorer.
The trend was terrible, but the five-year stretch isn't worthy of slapping "Failure" across his face on the cover of the paper. The last two years were a disaster and the program is in a terrible spot, but you can't ignore his success. 2021 was one of the best regular season seasons in program history.
*I'm counting 2020. We were projected as a six seed.
The amount of venom from the fanbase was too much. The last couple of years were a disaster, but the guy had open heart surgery this year and he had some really bad roster management that wasn't entirely his fault.
Houstan and Diabate should have stayed 2 and 3 years respectively. Sure he probably should have known that the NBA takes players with the right potential regardless of development or production, but the last couple of years would have looked much different with them around. Jett was the same thing though you would have thought Juwan would have had more influence. Not everyone can be a Jalen, Juwan, Weber and have a huge impact their freshman year.
Terrance Shannon, Caleb Love and the Argentinian guy would have made some difference.
Dickenson--I didn't really follow why Dickenson left other than NIL. Howard probably should have figured out how to keep him.
Can you imagine how different the team would be with 3 or 4 of those seven guys?
As for the anger management, I don't know what to say. If we were winning it would be brushed aside a bit more, but the combination was his death knell.
I hope Howard takes a year off to recuperate and then lands an NBA assistant job somewhere.
I honestly don't see a lot of venom from the fanbase at all. Mostly reasonable takes about him, "still being a Michigan legend, but time for him to go."
I see much more venom against the perceived venom against Howard.
March 20th, 2024 at 12:38 PM ^
He coached here five seasons. Three NCAA tournament appearances*. Won a Big Ten Title. Earned a one seed. Made a sweet sixteen. Made an elite eight without the team's leading scorer.
The trend was terrible, but the five-year stretch isn't worthy of slapping "Failure" across his face on the cover of the paper. The last two years were a disaster and the program is in a terrible spot, but you can't ignore his success. 2021 was one of the best regular season seasons in program history.
*I'm counting 2020. We were projected as a six seed.
March 20th, 2024 at 12:39 PM ^
It's a stupid, not clever, shot at a guy who just got fired that is also a Michigan legend.
Agree. The past few years have really given me a strong distaste for the majority of the people who post here. For a lot of reasons.
It's a trashy headline. Sadly, it's not surprising for the Daily.
The Daily has been doling out trash like this for 25 years. Find me the last actual talent to come out of their editorial page or writer pool. Total BS publication.
Claire Hao was 21 editor in chief and is an excellent energy columnist for the Houston Chronicle.
Does that count?
She seems impressive. I will grant you one.
March 20th, 2024 at 11:06 AM ^
All I can say is wow. Pretty harsh
The title of the article seems to be somewhat consistent with the current cultural tide of being an arrogant asshole while claiming to be a "truth teller."
It seems that people have forgotten that it is possible to tell the truth without having to be a dick to someone.
I guess that the internet is so full of muck that the only thing that cuts through it all are "acidic" statements like the title. However, it just isn't good for society (unless your an asshole).
March 20th, 2024 at 11:10 AM ^
This is sensational journalism. The Daily should know -- and do -- better.
March 20th, 2024 at 11:28 AM ^
Agreed. Sounds more like the NY Post
March 20th, 2024 at 11:43 AM ^
Is there any journalism that isn't sensationalist? Even the NYT is guilty (just read their political headlines).
I am probably one of the most vociferous critics of so-called journalists on this board, but I don't get the issue with this at all. It's accurate, he failed (failure is part of life) and its nicely artistic with all sorts of call backs that people get.
Maybe I should consider its not the journalists I hate but the people who get all butthurt when journalists hit the nail square.
March 20th, 2024 at 11:10 AM ^
Yea, not the classiest way to convey that. It's not horrible, but I expect better.
With that, I did date the Editor in Chief of the Daily back in the late 90s/early 2000s. While the Daily does good work, it should be noted that its mostly run by very young adults who are going to make more questionable decisions at that age. They have yet to grow into the journalist they will become.
March 20th, 2024 at 11:13 AM ^
My favorite part of your response is that it’s nearly impossible for me not to take how you constructed your paragraph and conclude that your evidence of them making bad decisions is that the editor once dated you.
I’m sure that’s not what you were implying, but it cracks me up.
March 20th, 2024 at 11:33 AM ^
Hey now! My point is that I got to experience the stuff she had to edit/approve from her journalists.
With that said, she certainly made a questionable decision dating me. You got me there! Ha
March 20th, 2024 at 11:40 AM ^
To your point, some of her journalists have improved immensely since she was edit/approving our stuff.
March 20th, 2024 at 11:47 AM ^
Ha! Yes, of course!
I gotta say, being super close with the Daily crew at that time really helped me out academically. I was a science nerd, so I neglected some of "right-brain" stuff at Michigan. So when I had to write a paper, I had no shortage of people to help me better understand prose and style to drive a point.
March 20th, 2024 at 12:28 PM ^
Daily person: "I am so sick of editing; if I never see another Word doc on a 3.5 floppy again it'll be too soon."
Same Daily person, 1 minute later: "Here, let me see that."
March 20th, 2024 at 11:32 AM ^
Did you date Heather long enough to see her childhood home? I grew up a few doors down from her.
March 20th, 2024 at 11:40 AM ^
Yes! I've stay at her home several times. Been to a Passover seder there too! It's crazy that you were just down the street! Come to think of it, the seder I joined (I think in 1999, maybe 2000) had a lot of people from the neighborhood. Were you there?! I played the wise man BTW.
Her parents and brother were/are awesome. They were super supportive of our interfaith relationship. Just great people all around. I talked to Heather maybe 5 years ago, but I haven't kept up since.
March 20th, 2024 at 12:25 PM ^
Yeah I haven't kept up w her either, other than passive facebook whatnots. Her family was indeed wonderful.
Dude, I didn't see you there, but I did definitely ask Heather to drive me home in 2000, and I don't remember the reason she gave why she couldn't but it was probably your goy ass, haha! That was the only year neither I nor my brother at State had a car to get home, so I think I just stayed in Ann Arbor and played Playstation.
We did Seder at my aunt's in Birmingham in '99 (my frat brother from NJ so bored at work came to that one w me), but I knew the cast at your Seder: Seigels, Ribitwers, the lady from the brown house who gave out the massive candy bars at Halloween, possibly the Schwartzes.*
*(you got the upside, we got the downside. You see there's two sides to every Schwartz).
Small world! And I do apologize for the ruining your car ride back to Bloomfield. It was my first Seder so she need the time to prep me. Ha!
March 20th, 2024 at 11:14 AM ^
The headline was fine
March 20th, 2024 at 11:15 AM ^
Maybe I'm just old and jaded but man I was certainly expecting something far worse than "Fab Failure". Too bad they caved and changed it.
I think it's actually pretty clever and anyone so upset to demand it be changed needs to toughen up a little.