Defending Juwan Howard

No other way to say it. Things are not looking good right now in Ann Arbor. After an initial flurry of success for the “Michigan Man”. Things seemed to have stagnated a bit. There are unusual or even bizarre happenings away from the playing surface. He doesn’t seem to get along with the other coaches in the conference. There appears to growing national sentiment to move on from Juwan Howard after six years of…

Wait a second….checking my notes…. Juwan Howard is only in year five? How did I make that mistake? Wait, THAT was written ad hominem for a certain Jim Harbaugh following the 2020 football season. Three years later, he is standing Gatorade soaked on a football field talking some gibberish about how pieces of confetti tell a story.

Odd, a little bit. Without controversy, you can’t say there hasn’t been. Unequivocally victorious? That you cannot argue. For that reason alone. Michigan needs to ignore the national narrative developing around Howard and stick with him.

Diving strictly into the numbers. Howard has a nearly identical winning percentage both in and out of conference (≈ 60%). Good— not great, but also not putridly awful. He also an appearance in the Elite Eight and the Sweet Sixteen on his resume. I have a feeling if Tommy Amaker and Brian Ellerbee had Howard’s level early tournament success. They would be given more than five years (Amaker got six years without a single tourney appearance)

Now let’s look at the hand he was dealt. Yes, the program was in pretty good shape when he got it. To his credit, go back and check the press conferences. He was the first to readily admit it. Adjusting and adapting to a preexisting system should not be seen as a demerit. It is just good coaching.

That being said. I don’t subscribe to the narrative that he won solely with John Beilein’s players. Howard’s two most successful teams were built around Franz Wagner and Hunter Dickinson. Despite Beilein’s familial connection with Franz’s older brother. It’s a misconception that the younger Wagner was a Beilein recruit. While the previous staff undoubtably did much of the heavy lifting. Franz Wagner committed to the new staff. Never played a second for Beilein. He went from an unknown international recruit to a lottery pick under Howard’s tutelage.

Hunter Dickinson was Howard recruit from cradle to transfer. Speaking of transfers. Plucking an unknown Mike Smith from the Ivy League was another underrated move. Those two teams were big and physical. They bullied Big 10 teams in ways that a Beilein team did not attempt to do. Simply put, Juwan Howard has shown he knows to build a winner. Like Harbaugh’s recent success. No matter what you think of how he got there. I fail to see how the negative of that statement could be argued.

Now to the bad. The current product being produced. The last two years have been rough. No other way to spin it. Making the NIT with two first round picks is not a good look. Having your best player depart through the transfer portal is not a good look either. Returning to our original premise of this article. These types of growing pains are not uncommon for an untraditional hire. Howard and Jim Harbaugh are most definitely untraditional hires.

If you don’t like the Harbaugh and Howard comparisons. I’ll stick with college basketball and give you another H that is a better facsimile. Do you think fans in Memphis are happy they stuck with Penny Hardaway through his early turbulence? Hardaway seems to have found a formula of success. Shunning big name recruits in favor of experience through the transfer portal. Howard has at least earned another year to perfect his secret sauce.

Those still in favor of moving on would point to the dreaded buzzwords of “culture” or “off court” issues. I use the quotes because they mean different things to different people. If you are in one particular camp you are probably not going to be swayed. I will just point this out. While some of the off court concerns have been self inflicted. A portion of it has not. In his five years. Howard has only had one year (2022-2023) that has not been negatively impacted by a global pandemic, suspension, or freaking open heart surgery (I remain surprised how little the impact the latter is considered)

When you take all those factors into consideration. A near 60% winning percentage and tournament success could be viewed even more impressively. Please don’t interpret this as a full on endorsement of the Howard regime. It could be just as bad or possibly worse next year. The recruiting class is currently solid but not great. I don’t think anyone playing on this year’s squad is giving a huge reason for hope.

Even with that reality. What does one more year of Howard hurt? Unless you have been living in a cave the last few years. College sports has changed. For better or worse, you don’t need years to change a culture. Jerome Tang at Kansas St among others have shown that you can rebuild quickly. I struggle to think of what you would need to do to get a program placed on probation in 2024.

Returning to Harbaugh’s situation. Not much was expected of his 2021 squad. For Howard, could Dug McDaniel turn into a Cade McNamara type of unheralded floor general? Maybe incoming recruit Khani Rooths blows up into an Aidan Hutchinson level prospect? Past next season, if you have not been paying attention to the 2025 class of Michigan prospects. It’s pretty darn good. Both Darius Acuff (Detroit Cass Tech) and Trey McKenney (Orchard Lake St Mary’s) have Michigan near the top of their list (Acuff has transferred to IMG where plays with Rooths) If Howard is part of the reason for their interest. That alone is enough to warrant another year. The AAU teammates are simply that good.

Exiting year five, Michigan has to soberly ask themselves what they have in Howard. They a high profile somewhat controversial coach who has proven he can recruit and build a winner. It’s not perfect, it’s not smooth, and it’s not polished. More importantly that template is also familiar to them. They have just watched a twice suspended, straight up goofy head coach, with one foot in the NFL, lift a national championship trophy. Keeping Juwan Howard another year is a low risk-high reward proposition that they should take.