Last Wednesday, Michigan hired Miami Heat assistant coach and former Fab Five member Juwan Howard to be its head basketball coach. Despite that Howard had never before coached in college or been a head coach, hiring Howard was a risk worth taking for Michigan. Given the timing of the hire, there were few other coaches with Howard’s upside conveying interest in taking this job.
Michigan’s decision to hire Howard has been predominantly met with praise and chatter about where he can lead this program and if he can take it to the top once he settles in as a head coach.
However, this is not like when John Beilein arrived in Ann Arbor. Howard is not taking over a program that has been stuck in a ditch for the past decade. Howard is taking over a program that had been built by arguably the best basketball coach in its history, a program that has been to three straight Sweet Sixteens and is one year removed from a run to the national championship game.
Michigan was originally in a position to succeed tremendously next season. Instead, Michigan’s turbulent ride for the past two months has left expectations for next year muddled and in disarray.
