Michigan Basketball: Juwan Howard brings name recognition to Wolverines
By Adam Childs
Michigan Basketball has hired Juwan Howard as their new men’s basketball coach. Can he build on what the previous coach John Beilein established and keep Michigan as a national contender?
Baggy shorts and black socks. Five freshman starting and making the national title game. Doing it again as sophomores. Juwan Howard and the rest of the Fab Five, which included Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson, ushered in a new era for college basketball. They were the toast of the country and looked to take Michigan Basketball to the next level. They did that pretty well while they were in college, but after they left they were hit hard by the NCAA due to improper benefits given to Webber from booster Ed Martin.
The banners were brought down and the school distanced themselves from the group that brought such notoriety to the Wolverines. But as time has passed, they have been welcomed back and now it has come full circle as Howard is now the new basketball coach for the Wolverines.
When John Beilein suddenly resigned to take the Cleveland Cavaliers job, the Michigan faithful wondered who they could get to replace him and not have a drop-off. With the way that Beilein built Michigan back to national prominence any hire was going to be a downgrade.
Related Story. John Beilein built a winner at Michigan. light
Howard immediately expressed interest and with Beilein bringing Michigan back to heights not seen since the Fab Five days, it only seems natural to bring in a former player in Howard.
The jury is still out if it will be a good hire as Howard has no head coaching experience, but he has got huge praise for his work as an assistant coach for the Miami Heat. Howard had a very good but not spectacular NBA career and transitioned nicely into the coaching world.
The big question will remain is if he can use that experience to be a good head coach in the college game, but at least he is back to a place he is very familiar with and the fans love him.
What Howard does bring, though, is a name. Recruits are going to be intrigued to take a look at Michigan because of Howard. They know who he is and what he and the rest of the Fab Five did at Michigan. Penny Hardaway is doing a great job of doing that at Memphis and Howard could follow suit.
We have also seen bringing alumni back to coach not work out also. Most recently Chris Mullin resigned from St. John’s but even if he hadn’t, lots of experts were wondering if he could even do the job well. Danny Manning at Wake Forest is not having any success either and might only have one year left to prove himself.
Next. John Beilein built a winner at Michigan. dark
Vanderbilt brought in Jerry Stackhouse and while he is not an alumnus, they are hoping for good things from him. Stackhouse and Howard are taking the same path to the college game in being an NBA assistant with no experience as a head coach.
Will it work out? That is yet to be determined, but Michigan needed to bring in an exciting coach (or at least a name) after losing the best coach they have ever had. Howard brings that excitement.
Whether he brings titles or not is still to be seen.