'I Heard Them' — How Juwan Howard Is Proving His Doubters Wrong
Juwan Howard would be the first to admit he's just getting started at Michigan and still has plenty to prove, but he doesn't feel the need to satisfy anyone but himself, his team and his school.
So far, that approach has been part of the perfect formula for success early in his career.
Several expressed concern when he was hired that he might be the next in a long line of coaches, like Chris Mullin (St. John's), Patrick Ewing (Georgetown), Jerry Stackhouse (Vanderbilt) and other NBA standouts who didn't succeed or haven't yet in coaching at the collegiate level.
Frankly, it was fair to question it, and several did (hand raised). He's the exception, not the rule when it comes to early success, but it's clear at this point he's earned his spot as the former.
It's also obvious that the criticisms and doubters over the years, along with his wife-described "Type A Personality," have helped fuel him. He made that clear Wednesday.
"Of course I've heard it," he said. "I'm not here to make this a big issue ... I've always been extremely competitive since I started playing sports, whether it was basketball, baseball. I didn't play competitive football, but in our neighborhoods we played against each neighgborhood in the park in football, and it was tackle football with no equipment.
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"That level of mental toughness has prepared me for whatever's been thrown in my direction. Yeah, I hear the doubters. I'm not going to sit here and act like I didn't hear the noise before I got hired. Still to this day, I hear the backhanded compliments."
Those include "he made the right hires and they're doing all the coaching," etc. And nothing could be further from the truth.
From day one last year, practice observers said, Howard knew what he wanted to run and how he wanted to do it, similar to his predecessor (John Beilein). He recruited to his philosophy, finding one of the best post big men in the country in Hunter Dickinson, and has been about 'culture, culture, culture' from the get-go.
Yes, he made good hires, and bringing assistant Phil Martelli on to help him with the day-in, day-out process of running a high major program — which Martelli did at a high level for nearly three decades — was an outstanding move.
But Martelli would be the first to admit it's Howard running the show, and he's there to help as needed. It's Howard's preparation and fire, the way he relates to his players, that's made him one of the top candidates for National Coach of the Year honors and one of the up-and-comers in his profession.
"I've arrived" isn't in his vocabulary, and it's one reason it's fair to think he's on the way to an outstanding career.
"Am I competitive? Of course I am," Howard said. "But I'm also about improving and having a growth mindset on how I can get better to be the best version of myself; to help prepare this team, and more importantly to represent this fine institution the best way possible.
"That's my No. 1 goal. That's what drives me, what really excites me."
WHAT MAKES HIM DIFFERENT?
He made that clear at his introductory press conference, in which he won over a number of Michigan fans. To the skeptics, it was reminiscent of Brady Hoke's welcome at the podium in which even former Heisman-winner Desmond Howard, an admitted skeptic, said he got "chills" listening to it.
That one didn't end well, of course, and Hoke was a three-time coach of the year in three different conferences.
So why do folks think Howard will be different where so many others have failed? The Athletic's Seth Davis summed it up pretty well recently in five thoughts:
He took over a strong program. He came in ready to work. He hired a great staff. The [Miami] Heat Factor. Howard has “It.”
The culture was intact, and he continued to build on it and implement some of his own stuff with what his players already did well under John Beilein. Unlike, say, Rich Rodriguez when he got to Ann Arbor and started tearing down, Howard recognized the strong foundation and continued to add, not demolish.
On "ready to work" ... he came in with the "I love this place and can't fail" mentality, one of the reasons he showed great humility in hiring Martelli as his right-hand man. The "Heat' factor was one of many great 'team' situations he's been in over the years, including the Fab Five at Michigan in which guys are playing for others, not just themselves.
But the 'it' factor — you just don't know until a guy is a head coach, and that's why some (many) considered it a gamble, especially given the lack of success from those like Mullin, etc., in similar positions.
"Howard has proven himself to be a man of keen intellect and high character," Davis wrote. "He has taken the time to build relationships with his players and has gotten the best out of them during the worst of times. They respect his basketball knowledge and truly believe he cares about them."
And he does. Even those who want him to fail (rival fans, etc.) would have to admit that.
Between his genuine personality, his work ethic and his knowledge of the game, he seems to have everything you're looking for. Add that drive to succeed forged by years of competition, and you've got something potentially special.
"I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about plays, thinking about defensive situations ... how I can get better, how I can help prepare the team because I'm a perfectionist," Howard said.. "If you see my desk now, I'm a very organized person. My wife says I have this 'Type A' personality. That's how I'm wired. I wouldn't be able to last 19 years in the NBA if I didn't have a certain edge about me.
"... In six years as an assistant coach with the Miami Heat staff, I also took it upon myself to prepare myself to become a head coach someday. So I worked at this. I'm going to continue to keep working. I love it. People will always doubt or have their as we would say 'opinions,' and they have every right to voice their opinion."
It wasn't unfair to question the hire, and for the vast majority, it was nothing personal, of course. There was plenty of reason to wonder why Howard would be different where others in similar positions had failed. And there will no doubt still be bumps in the road, perhaps even this year. There's plenty yet to prove in the postseason, an area in which Howard has yet to participate.
But great programs have great leadership, and it starts at the top with the values of the man in charge. In that area, Michigan basketball appears to remain in great hands.
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