Michigan Basketball: 11 candidates to replace Juwan Howard as Head Coach

Brian Dutcher

There are no guidelines when making a head coaching move: it all depends on what the athletics department wants in their next guy. If the move is to stay within the Wolverines family, which won’t necessarily be the case, then Dutcher is the first call on the list, albeit one of the unlikeliest on this list.

Born in Michigan, Dutcher attended Minnesota and was later a graduate assistant at Illinois. He then spent a decade on staff at Michigan, mostly under Steve Fisher, and helped the Wolverines to that national championship back in 1989. After nearly two decades assisting Fisher at San Diego State, he took over the Aztecs program in 2017 and has been sensational. The Aztecs will make the NCAA Tournament for a fifth time this season and are just twelve months removed from last year’s run to the national championship game.

If you’re Michigan, you’re seeing someone who’s proven he can win at the highest level and wondering if Dutcher wants to come back to Ann Arbor for the tail end of his coaching career. He’s already 64 so he’s not a long-term coaching move. The other issue is that Dutcher recently signed a contract extension at San Diego State and has shown every indication he wants to retire with the Aztecs. Dutcher could do wonders with the Wolverines, much as he did as a recruiter thirty years ago, but how likely is it?