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Juwan Howard will not return as head coach of the michigan basketball Program for the 2024-25 season.
UM AD Warde Manuel parted ways with Howard on Friday after five seasons.
“After a thorough review of the program, I have decided that Juwan will not return as our men’s basketball coach,” Manuel said in a statement released Friday. “Juwan is among the greatest Wolverines to ever be associated with our basketball program. I know how much it meant, not only to Juwan, but to all of us, that he returned here to lead this program. Despite his love for his alma mater and the positive experience our student-athletes had under his leadership, it became clear to me that the program was not living up to our expectations and was not going in the right direction.
“I am grateful for Juwan’s dedication, passion and commitment to UM and for all that he and his legacy will continue to mean to Michigan.”
The Wolverines (8-24, 3-17 Big Ten) just finished a season with the most losses in the program’s 107-season history and have missed consecutive NCAA tournaments for the first time since 1999-2008.
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Michigan went 87-73 under Howard overall, but was just 26-40 the last two seasons. Howard will be paid a $3 million severance payment since the firing occurred before June 30. for your contractwho had two years left.
In January, Manuel said he was not yet ready to pass judgment on Howard’s employment status. And there were mitigating factors for this season, particularly Howard’s heart surgery in September.
“I think (patience) is the key to all of our programs,” Manuel said in January. “Juwan is working with the staff, with the team to win, but let’s not discount what Juwan has personally gone through. That is also a concern and a focus for me: that he is okay and that he is getting through this.”
Surgery or not, the trend had undoubtedly been going in the wrong direction. Michigan went 1-10 in the regular season after those comments and finished with the Big Ten’s second-worst defense in the last decade.
Of course, that’s a far cry from how the mandate began.
Michigan was set to make the NCAA tournament in 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic cut the season short. The following season, Howard and UM returned to familiar heights when they won the Big Ten regular-season title and earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The former Fab Five star was named the 2021 Associated Press Coach of the Year. UM reached the Elite Eight before suffering a 51-49 loss to UCLA.
But that season turned out to be an outlier: Over the next three seasons, Michigan went 45-55, with more losses in each successive campaign.
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Michigan opened the 2021-22 season ranked sixth in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, moving up to fourth place before a months-long stumble. The Wolverines went 6-3 in early December and then went 11-11 the rest of the way.
Michigan earned an 11th seed in the NCAA tournament, then posted back-to-back wins over Colorado State (6) and Tennessee (3) to lead the program to a record fifth straight Sweet 16, where it lost to Villanova.
The impressive tournament run saved the season, but the overall decline continued.
Last season, UM opened the season 7-3, then went 10-12 in its final 22 games and missed the NCAA tournament for the second time since 2010. That was a low point for the program, until this season .
Michigan was 6-5 in mid-December, but then lost 18 of its next 20 games and finished last in the Big Ten for the first time since 1966-67. Before this season, UM had not lost five consecutive games in more than a decade. It happened three different times this year.
Even beyond the losses on the court, the Michigan program under Howard had its problems. In 2021, Howard had to be physically restrained on the court during the second half of a Big Ten tournament game after he attacked Maryland coach Mark Turgeon and was subsequently ejected.
The following season, he punched Wisconsin staff assistant Joe Krabbenhoft in the face during a postgame handshake line skirmish; He was suspended for the last five games of the regular season.a $40,000 fine and a “zero tolerance” policy.
Last December, before he was officially reinstated as interim head coach since he walked away from heart surgery, Howard and Jon Sanderson, long-time strength and conditioning coach He got into an altercation.
A back-and-forth ensued in which Sanderson had told a frustrated senior forward, Jace Howard, Juwan’s son, to stop berating a coach, prompting the elder Howard to walk up and yell at Sanderson, who stood by. firm and yelled at him in response, according to El Atlético.
Sanderson filed a human resources complaint and was moved elsewhere in the athletic department before resigning earlier this month.
A person with knowledge of the situation told the Free Press that the policy was not violated because there was “nothing to justify” any additional punishment once Human Resources did its own investigation and deemed nothing to be physical in nature.
Point guard and leading scorer Dug McDaniel managed to be suspended for six road games due to academic progress issues, which played a major role in torpedoing the season.
UM’s most recent loss in the Big Ten tournament ended its disastrous season.
Now that the number one question about the future has been answered, here are a few more.
Which players are returning? Could McDaniel stay in Ann Arbor or look to relocate somewhere closer to his roots in the Washington/Maryland/Virginia area? Tray Jackson, Jaelin Llewellyn and Olivier Nkamhoua, three transfers who arrived during Howard’s tenure, are not eligible.
Terrance Williams II and Nimari Burnett attended Senior Day ceremonies last weekend; Although Williams has one year of eligibility remaining and Burnett two, neither gave any indication that their return was imminent.
That apparently leaves Jace Howard, Youssef Khayat, Tarris Reed Jr., Will Tschetter and George Washington III as the only scholarship players a new coach would look to keep. Michigan also has two incoming recruits, Michigan Mr. Basketball, Durral Brooksfrom Grand Rapids, and Christian Anderson, from Georgia via Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, but neither are a consensus top-100 prospect.
And now they are granted a free release from their national letters of intent with a change of coach.
The third incoming player could be Khani Rooths, a marginal five-star power forward from IMG Academy in Florida who is verbally committed, but has not yet signed.
Contact Tony García: apgarcia@freepress.com. follow him on @realtonygarcia.
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