Juwan Interview w Athletic

Juwan sat down and did an interview with B Quinn at The Athletic. If you have a sub, it's definitely worth a look. If you don't, here's some notable highlights.

 

The Juwan Howard interview: Regrets, lost trust and the end of his Michigan coaching career

https://theathletic.com/5385907/2024/04/04/juwan-howard-michigan-end-nba-interview/

 

Sanderson Incident

Howard heard his son Jace Howard yelling at an athletic trainer. Howard says he shouted: “Yo, look, Jace, stop.”

“I’m his father, right?” he says. “He knew that look and knew that voice, right? So he stopped immediately.”

According to Howard, Sanderson got involved, adding: “Jace, you don’t talk to a superior like that!”

“Which is true,” Howard says. “I agree. But then he kept going. Jon said, ‘Jace, that’s bullsh–!’ You don’t talk to a superior that way, this is the sh— I’m talking about.’”

Howard says he called off Sanderson, telling him he was handling it.

Here, according to Howard, Sanderson yelled that he’d recently endured “the same bullsh–” from another player.

Howard says he responded: “Yo, Jon, chill the f— out. I told you I got it.”

Howard says he had no intentions of escalating the tension.

Later

Howard says he cursed at Sanderson, using “a bad choice of words,” and told him to “get the f— out of my gym.”

Howard says Sanderson “tried to come at me and fight,” but assistant coaches Saddi Washington and Eisley held him back. “I was like, whoa, this is serious.

“So then, I say, ‘Forget it, guys, let him go, we’re about to start practice.’ So we go to the other court in the practice facility, circle up like we always do, and went over the practice plan.”

Howard says he called Manuel that night. Sanderson sent his version of events to university human resources, and Manuel advised Howard to do the same.

“Then I come to find out Jon’s email to HR got leaked,” Howard says. “Juwan’s email to HR did not get leaked.”

 

Decision to Coach in 23/24

“I thought I was a Marvel hero, but this was real life stuff I was dealing with, and I was extremely naive,” he says. “I was impatient with the process.”

“You can allow your competitiveness and take control over, you know, what you know in your heart,” Howard says. “If I could go back and do it all over again, I would’ve taken time off to really get help. I should’ve listened more to the doctors and my wife. 

 

The Surgery

“I was scared,” Howard says. “But I never admitted that. I didn’t show it in front of my wife or my family, and I never showed it in front of my staff.”

A Sept. 15 surgery resected an aortic aneurysm and repaired Howard’s aortic valve. That day, the school announced the successful surgery. Howard had told his players only one day earlier, a decision he now regrets.

“I didn’t want to scare the players in a way where they might not want to finish out their years here and enter the transfer portal, or where the players I was recruiting might not want to come,” he says. “To go through and explain if I’m going to be here or not, if I’m going to be coaching. I ultimately decided to keep it close to the vest.”

 

Juwan's Perception Problem

“There was a lot of pressure, a lot of scrutiny, so I kind of created a bubble, where I didn’t let a lot of folks in,” Howard says. “I was super protective. With that, came a lot of criticism. So I lost trust.”

At Michigan, Howard’s public persona was about as limited as any coach in his position.

“Folks really don’t know me at all, whatsoever, and part of that is my fault,” Howard says. “Could I have been more politically correct like some of these other guys at other programs, done a better job of playing that game? Letting the world into my private life? If that would’ve saved my job, then yeah, I should’ve.”

 

NIL

“I’ll say this — we needed help,” Howard says. “I asked for help when it came to the NIL two years ago. We didn’t get the help. It ruffled some feathers with some folks.”

After losing in the 2023 NIT, Howard says he met with Michigan president Santa Ono, Manuel, six regents and a variety of coaches from the athletic department, including representatives from football. Howard said men’s basketball needed to upgrade its locker room, but also needed NIL help. But help never came.

“We lost one of our best players because he felt he wasn’t being valued when it comes to NIL,” Howard says, alluding to All-American center Hunter Dickinson, now at Kansas.

“I didn’t have the resources to go and build a roster for this past season,” he says. “The guys that committed were guys I had past relationships with.

“We had two more scholarships, but as we were going through the recruiting process with other players, we got all the way to third base, but couldn’t bring them home because they were looking for an NIL commitment and I couldn’t offer it.”

While there was NIL money available for players in his program, Howard says the program did not have the support of an aggressive, basketball-focused collective like some other marquee men’s basketball programs. He says he proposed adding a program general manager three years ago but was told “we did not have the funding for a new hire.” 

Howard said he hopes May has more funds available to build a roster.

“He’ll need it.”

 

There's a bunch more... if you don't have a The Athletic sub, I enjoy mine and recommend one. Interesting interview. Will always love Juwan the player. I think its probably best that the team moved on and are on a different trajectory now. I hope for his sake that his legacy isn't painted solely by these last two coaching seasons.