Wolverine Watch: The Juwan Howard Effect

Juwan Howard’s breakthrough second season turned heads in Ann Arbor, the Big Ten, and ultimately, the entire country.

But who’d have thought it might produce a copycat wave?

Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde thinks so now. Forde, in a SI online piece, even referred to it as the “Juwan Howard Effect.”

That’s what happens when you make the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight in your first crack at it as a college head coach. And bring in the top recruiting class in the country. And win the Big Ten.

And do so with humility, fierce competitiveness and pride, with the tears shed upon your hiring by your alma mater still fresh in everyone’s mind.

Howard opened the door for a whole lot of winning at Michigan over the next few seasons. It looks like he kicked open other doors as well.

“Juwan Howard has had such immediate success at Michigan that there seem to be a number of copycat hires being made in this cycle,” Forde wrote. “Hiring alums is suddenly back in vogue. Especially Black alums.”

Forde points to a wave of hirings of blacks across the country, including Mike Woodson at Indiana and Ben Johnson at Minnesota. Hubert Davis becomes the first black head coach in North Carolina history, although that plan was in place before Howard turned tears to banners.

The SI writer noted no small amount of satisfaction coming from Howard’s boss, U-M Athletic Director Warde Manuel.

“If people want to look at us and say, ‘I’d like to try to have that,’ that’s great,” he quoted Manuel as saying. “Juwan has been a great fit for us.”

Plenty quietly questioned whether he would be, despite his quarter century in the NBA and strong mentoring with the Miami Heat. They loved the tears, but found themselves awash in post-John Beilein fears.

“Manuel was vigorously second-guessed for hiring Howard from the NBA without a minute’s work on a college sideline,” Forde wrote. “With an inherited football coach who has underachieved [Jim Harbaugh] and replacing a legendary coaching mind [John Beilein], this was a move Manuel needed to get right. When Howard began his head-coaching career 7-0 with victories over North Carolina and Gonzaga, the second-guessing stopped.

“Howard has brought a lot to the table very quickly: NBA-level expertise as a longtime assistant; a zest for teaching the game; a mixture of pride and understanding of what it’s like to be a star athlete at Michigan — particularly a Black star athlete; a knowledge of the AAU’s recruiting terrain after immersing in it with his sons; and still-viable name recognition from his playing days as a member of the iconic Fab Five teams.”

Forde quotes assistant coach Phil Martelli saying Howard is a “Mount Rushmore guy.”

“It’s early,” Forde cautions, “but keep the sculptor on call. Howard’s work to date: a 42-17 record in two seasons; a Big Ten title; an NCAA Tournament run that stopped two points short of the Final Four despite a key late-season injury; the No. 1 incoming recruiting class for next year. No wonder other athletic directors want an order of what Manuel is enjoying.”

Howard’s family feel isn’t just the typical pitch, everyone around him insists. It’s absolutely genuine, to the point where he’s keeping around a key part of the family for a major transition time.

Many of his seniors and likely an underclassman are moving on, despite the NCAA’s COVID do-over offer for everyone. But versatile guard and top defender Eli Brooks made known he’s on board for a fifth-year senior season.

That move instantly vaccinates Michigan against many inexperience symptoms in the backcourt. Brooks will not only keep ramping up the defense, but bring the young talent along in Michigan’s system, as an assistant coach on the floor.

With the strong expectation that seven-foot freshman Hunter Dickinson will be back for another All-Big Ten season, Howard doesn’t lack building blocks. They include emerging veterans like junior forward Brandon Johns, Jr., and the afore-mentioned nation’s top class, stacked with no fewer than three McDonald’s All-Americans.

Try copying that.

Michigan radio basketball play-by-play man Brian Boesch joined TheWolverine.com podcast, noting Howard has accumulated the talent to keep the fun going.

“There’s a lot of potential here,” Boesch said. “There’s a lot to work with.”

While replacing experience is tough — and the 2020-21 Wolverines featured a ton of veteran savvy — it can be done.

“We’ve seen it’s possible,” Boesch said. “We saw it with Hunter Dickinson, who was basically a plug-and-play. He was that good. On paper, several of these guys coming in have that same type of background, skill set, ability, upside. Now it’s a matter of if it’s going to be realized…

“It’s just different. Normally, we were waiting for guys to come in and develop as a freshman into sophomores, under John Beilein. This is, ‘You’re a five-star. Let’s go! Get at it.’ It will be fun to watch.”

Howard’s own upside is just beginning to be realized. But it has been noted, with others trying to jump on board.

“Teams are looking for the next Juwan Howard,” Boesch said. “That right there shows you, in two years, what he’s been able to do, and the type of trend he’s been able to set.

“Teams are looking for the alum, the feel-good story, the NBA-experience type of a guy, with Mike Woodson being one of the key examples of that, at Indiana.

“When other teams are trying to copy you … teams weren’t trying to copy the John Beilein, develop three stars to become great. That wasn’t being copied. It was still excelling and still doing great. It got Michigan to two Final Fours.

“This is what people are copying. They are trying to find their Juwan Howard. That is just so rare, and it’s so special to see it.”

Those following the Wolverines are ready to see it for a long, long time.

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