After Juwan Howard's introductory press conference, here's a look at what's being written about Michigan's next head coach:
Bob Wojnowski, The Detroit News: Juwan Howard will try to turn passion into power
Sincerity. Gratitude. Passion. Those were the feel-good emotions of the day, and when Juwan Howard stepped to the podium and began to cry, you understood how he got here.
If determination and school pride automatically translate to success, Michigan basketball will keep humming along. Of course, it’s not that simple. Howard’s joyful tears Thursday were unambiguous; he never believed he’d return to his alma mater as head coach, 25 years after leaving as a player.
Now comes the hard part for Howard, who must turn disbelief into belief. This was the culmination of a whirlwind three weeks, with Michigan losing its longtime leader, John Beilein, and replacing him with someone who brings more nostalgia than actual plans. Howard wasn’t going to prove anything in his opening news conference, and didn’t try to convince anybody with empty bluster. What he lacked in polish, he made up with passion, and he handled it fine.
More important than the tears and snippets of humor was his low-key self-awareness: Howard knows he doesn’t know the intricacies of what he’s taking on. He knows people wonder how he can lead a major program without ever having been a head coach, or even an assistant in college.
Howard seems to grasp the enormity of the transition, which is good, because it is enormous, and he’ll need to hire experienced assistants. Howard and athletic director Warde Manuel both acknowledged the question of risk, even if they didn’t agree with the depth of it.
And now, the great unknown.
Juwan Howard sat next to his wife, Jenine, inside the Crisler Center on Thursday afternoon wiping tears from his face as his new boss, Michigan Wolverines athletic director Warde Manuel, introduced him and his family as the new steward of the university's men's basketball program.
Those tears intensified when Howard walked toward the microphone and looked back toward his family, friends and long-time supporters. His eyes scanned the rafters of the arena where his basketball career began more than 25 years ago. Tears. Hugs. Laughs. A lot of joy. There were no shortage of feel-good moments as Michigan introduced its new head coach.
But now, with that out of the way, an avalanche of questions follow one of the most interesting major hires in recent Michigan memory.
No one — not Manuel, not the fan base, not the media and not even Howard himself — knows how this is going to go. This was a hire of circumstance and hope. A hire Manuel — and a slew of his coaches, including Jim Harbaugh, Carol Hutchins and Mel Pearson — firmly stood behind Thursday afternoon …
If anyone was looking for concrete answers on how Howard plans to steer this ship, they left Thursday's presser still firmly in search of them. Howard's philosophy as a head coach? Not sure yet, he's never done it. What's he going to run? Suppose we'll have to wait and see.
Is any of this going to work?
The mystery is the most interesting piece of this hire. Howard's never been a head coach at any level. He's never coached in college. His staff will be tailored to help him adjust and navigate this world. But, at the same time, he's in charge. This program will be what he makes it.
Brendan Quinn, The Athletic: Raw and real, Juwan Howard is back at Michigan
Down at the core, though, everyone learned Thursday what Michigan will look like on Howard’s watch.
With rows of media in front of him, and pockets of Michigan coaches and athletic department staff members, and donors, and regents, watching on, Howard struggled to collect himself. He took the stage, tears in his eyes. He leaned over the podium, uttering a faint “thank you,” and tried to begin, before leaning back and bringing a handkerchief to his eyes. He stepped away, turning his back to the crowd. His shoulders rose. A deep breath to collect himself. “Wow,” he began. “Tears of joy.”
This was real. This was raw. There was no aw-shucking around what this meant to Juwan Howard. There was no empty rah-rah talk. This appeared to be a man who sorted through various personas over the last 25 years in the NBA — from star rookie, to uber-rich franchise player, to wily veteran, to coach — and now feels like he’s home again. When Howard said Thursday that he couldn’t stop thinking about the opening at Michigan — “In the back of my mind, all I was hearing was ‘Michigan, Michigan, Michigan’” — even while interviewing for a job with the Minnesota Timberwolves, it was easy to believe.
If nothing else is known today, one thing that’s clear is that Howard’s emotional connection is authentic and tangible.
It also might end up being his greatest attribute.
This was not lost on the Michigan players lining the far corner of the arena floor during the news conference.
“We haven’t even talked about X’s and O’s yet, but you hear how he speaks and what he says, and you’re going to believe him,” Livers said. “It sounds, I don’t know the word for it … it just sounds too real to be phony. You can obviously see real from fake. We all see that Juwan is real.”
To be clear, it is a gamble and it does run a risk of failure. So would any other. That is beside the point.
Beilein left the Wolverines with little warning in mid-May — when the coaching carousel had already slowed. The candidate pool, inherently, was thinner than it might have been a month or two earlier. And, even if Manuel had his pick of the lot, it would be impossible to hire another Beilein.
The best coach in the history of the program doesn’t come around often. Particularly not when that coach is Beilein, who ran things in a way unique throughout college basketball.
Howard hasn’t been in college basketball. He isn’t familiar with a world where a slip of the tongue can be a recruiting violation, and admitted as much on Thursday. Even without his ties to the Fab Five, the likelihood that he recruits programs like Mac Irvin Fire, the way his name alone makes heads turn — that makes him inherently antithetical to Beilein.
And that is fine.
Juwan Howard isn’t here to build on John Beilein’s legacy. He’s here to make his own. There are no shortage of basketball reasons to think he can.
Howard comes with endorsements from Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra, two names that should carry more weight than his former teammates. He succeeded as an assistant in Miami, unequivocally so. The Heat won titles when they had the requisite talent, and outperformed expectation anyway when they didn’t. Howard was a repeated candidate for NBA job openings for a reason — he’s developed a well-earned reputation as a good basketball mind, and someone who connects with players.
Andrew Kahn, MLive.com: How and why Warde Manuel chose Juwan Howard as Michigan’s basketball coach
Warde Manuel read the media coverage over the past week, since he hired Juwan Howard as Michigan's basketball coach.
"I read the 'risk,' the 'gamble,' and a whole bunch of adjectives like that that have already been used," Manuel said on Thursday. "And that's fine. If I'm going to take a risk on somebody, you'll see why I took a risk and the gamble -- and all the things you all say about what could possibly happen -- with Juwan Howard …
Offering the job to Howard was, for Manuel, an "easy choice."
And, for Howard, accepting it was as well.
Howard said on Thursday that he woke up on May 13 to about 20 texts about Beilein leaving Michigan. At the time, Howard was preparing for an interview with the Minnesota Timberwolves for their head coaching vacancy.
"I've always been asked by friends and by family, 'Would I ever coach college basketball?' My answer has always been, 'There's only one job, only one school that I would pursue at the collegiate level. And that's the University of Michigan.'"
Howard still took the interview with the Timberwolves but "in the back of my mind, all I kept thinking was 'Michigan, Michigan, Michigan.'"
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