Michigan Has Mercifully Fired Juwan Howard After A Disastrous Season

For a minute there, they really had me worried. This was absolutely necessary. I don’t even harbor any ill will or hard feelings toward Juwan Howard right now. I don’t like what he did to the basketball program, but he gave it the old college try; it didn’t work out, and ultimately, despite many ups and downs throughout the entire process, the Juwan Howard era at Michigan ended up being kind of what I expected it to be. We saw a first-time head coach, who ultimately turned out to be what we expected: a guy who was in way over his head. He’ll now sit on an NBA bench as an assistant coach for a few years. Shit, given the fact that NBA head coaches are essentially babysitters at this point, it wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up being a head coach one day.

I do find the terminology behind Juwan Howard’s termination to be slightly humorous. The idea that they thoroughly looked into the program in the 48 hours since the season ended and came to the very difficult conclusion that this guy wasn’t cut out for the job is kind of funny. What gave it away? Was it when he assaulted an assistant coach for another team? Was it when he missed the tournament despite having two lottery picks and Hunter Dickinson? Or was putting together the worst basketball team in the history of Michigan basketball ultimately the straw that broke the camel's back? I guess we’ll never know.

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Michigan basketball is a program that is in bad shape. They wouldn't have fired their coach if they were in good shape. But I don't view the Juwan Howard era as something they can't return from. We live in the age of the transfer portal. If Michigan brings in the right guy, they could get this thing off the ground quickly, and we can all forget that the last several years have never happened. The best-case scenario is that whoever is in charge of hiring the next head basketball coach is not Warde Manual. I'm done with him, too. People might give him some pats on the back for making this decision, but he brought Juwan in, and ultimately, he fired him when he was well beyond his expiration date. Despite how bad the last few campaigns have been, this program has relatively recently made deep runs through March. Things went sideways, but they don't have to stay that way.