After Juwan Howard was hired as the next head coach, here's a look at what people are saying about the hire:
But Howard is different. While Hardaway and Ewing are great fits at their schools, neither was considered much of a prospect for other coaching jobs—Hardaway had only coached at the high school level before landing the Memphis job, and Ewing spent more than a decade as an NBA assistant without sparking much interest for a head job. Howard, meanwhile, has been highly sought after for NBA coaching vacancies. He’d been an assistant for the Miami Heat since he ended his 19-year NBA career in 2013—and if we’re being honest, he was already basically an assistant during the last few years he spent with the team, wearing suits and providing veteran wisdom to LeBron James during a pair of championship runs. In the past few months, Howard interviewed with the Lakers, Timberwolves, and Cavaliers for their head coaching openings. It was going to be a matter of time before he’d land a top job somewhere.
Instead, he’ll head to the college ranks. It’s a complicated detour in the arc of his coaching career because college coaching isn’t strictly about basketball acumen. College coaches have to recruit players—it’s the most important part of the job. But I suspect Howard will be fine at this because he’s got a prebuilt pitch. He understands how the NBA works and can identify what traits will be critical in the pro game. And he knows firsthand what turns “Michigan Men” into NBA stars, having been a part of the glory days of Michigan hoops during his time as a player …
Howard would be a great get for Michigan solely from a basketball perspective, but he also represents a mind-set that took Michigan 25 years to hit upon: It is OK to acknowledge that the coolest thing ever to happen to Michigan basketball was, in fact, cool.
Pat Forde, Yahoo Sports: Juwan Howard the latest mold-breaking NBA hire in college basketball
And, somewhat like Hardaway, Howard has AAU experience and connections that could pay significant recruiting dividends. He has two sons who are players and college prospects, and he’s been a presence on the AAU circuit for several years both watching them and speaking to players. I saw Howard at the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League event in Westfield, Indiana, both this month and last year.
Simply put, he shouldn’t need the hand-holding in learning the recruiting territory that some of the other NBA guys have required.
For Manuel, this hire checks the Michigan Man box — something that always seems to matter to a self-congratulatory alumni base. But this Michigan Man does come with some baggage, having played on a team that had both its Final Fours vacated due to impermissible benefits received from booster Ed Martin.
Ultimately, none of that will matter if Howard wins. And if he wins big at Michigan, and Hardaway does the same at Memphis, and Stackhouse turns around Vanderbilt, and Ewing revives Georgetown, a copycat industry could be looking for even more hires from outside the conventional college coaching pipeline.
Jeff Goodman, Stadium: History Not on Juwan Howard’s Side as He Returns to Coach Michigan
Listen, I’ve heard nothing but great things about Howard from those who have played with him, from those who have played for him while he’s been an assistant with the Miami Heat since 2013 and also those who have interviewed him for NBA head gigs.
But call me skeptical.
Yes, I keep being told that Howard is different. Much like another former NBA player hired in college this cycle, Jerry Stackhouse, Howard has some grassroots ties. His kids play AAU ball and Howard is around it quite a bit.
University School Coach Jim Carr, a long-time DI assistant who coaches both of Howard’s sons, Jace and Jett, has no hesitation saying that Howard will be successful at Michigan.
“He’s a grinder,” Carr told me. “He’s on the road more than most college assistants because he’s coaching in the NBA and also watching AAU basketball because he’s traveling with his kids.”
But it’s still not quite the same as grinding it out as a college assistant coach, paying your dues by criss-crossing the country, spending day and night on the phone to get 16-year-olds to play for you while also juggling speaking engagements calls with your compliance department and also establishing relationships with your players.
I’m not saying Howard can’t do it.
I’m just saying history isn’t on his side.
Michigan found itself in an unusual spot due to the timing of Beilein's exit. In mid-May, ideal candidates are not easy to come by. For Howard, who'd interviewed for NBA head jobs in the weeks prior, it was blessed timing.
In terms of ginning up interest and morale for the fan base, Michigan could do no better than Howard …
Many schools and coaches have tried this before and failed. Some current experiments are ongoing. Howard's the latest to get his chance. Coaching pros is different from coaching college kids. He can succeed as easily as he could fail, but given how the way relationships have dictated so much of how the basketball world has worked in this new era, opting in on Howard is less of a gamble and more of a logical pick than some might have you believe.
Brendan Quinn, The Athletic: In the end, Michigan goes all-in, gambles on Juwan Howard
His hiring at Michigan, however, is a clear roll of the dice for Manuel. As a first-time head coach, significant questions exist surrounding what kind of offensive and defensive principles Howard will run at Michigan and how his transition to the logistics and dimensions of the college game will play out.
While Howard’s name and notoriety are undoubtedly strengths in recruiting, he’ll still have to learn who to know and how to recruit. Even before that, he’ll have to retain whatever parts of the current Michigan roster he’s interested in. New hirings sometimes come with transfers — the key for any new coach is to keep those pieces that they want to build around. Michigan has 10 scholarship players for next season and three open spots. One could be refilled by top-50 recruit Jalen Wilson, who previously was released from his letter of intent after Beilein’s departure …
All these years later, he’s back at Michigan, taking over a program that hardly resembles the one he left behind. Beilein led Michigan from the depths of relative oblivion back to national prominence, including the 2013 national title game attended by all the Fab Five members. The group has long been fractured, with Webber as the outlier, but they were all in the building that night in Atlanta. Since then, there have been efforts for a reunion, but Webber has not played ball.
Howard might be the piece that brings it all together — rewriting history.
The only question is, can he coach?
Bob Wojnowski,The Detroit News:With Juwan Howard, Michigan leaps boldly into the unknown
It’s a leap and a splash, a dive into a deep unknown. Everyone knows about Juwan Howard, the Michigan player of Fab Five fame, an NBA stalwart for 19 seasons, an NBA assistant for six more seasons, a man with a quarter-century of experience at the highest level.
It’s what we don’t know that makes his hiring a huge, tantalizing risk by Michigan. A basketball program led to great heights by John Beilein — who was here 12 seasons and coached 1,297 college games in 41 years — is being turned over to a guy whose coaching record on any level is 0-0.
It’s a bold move by athletic director Warde Manuel, and due to the timing of Beilein’s departure, he didn’t have a lot of options. When he began his search 10 days ago, Manuel probably didn’t plan to pick a first-time head coach — with no college coaching experience of any kind — and that’s the risk. It’s also the allure, that Howard’s name and NBA connections will pay dividends in recruiting, while he finds his way as a day-to-day coach. Matching Beilein’s tactical acumen is highly unlikely, but collecting top players can be an antidote.
For Michigan fans, the news Wednesday probably was half-exciting and half-nerve-racking. For Howard, 46, it’s a chance to return to his alma mater and prove himself in a job he coveted. For the program, it’s a test of the power of its brand, and the strength of Howard’s connections.
Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press: Michigan's hiring of Juwan Howard not about former glory
There is a reason that Steve Fisher used to call Howard “My Rock of Gibraltar.” There is a reason that, of all the Fab Five players, he is the only one who persevered long enough to actually win an NBA ring, when he was 39.
And there’s a reason he’s the only one who became a coach.
Because he was the most serious student of the game.
So, judged against the most famous band he ever belonged to, Juwan Howard, now 46, is easily the most logical choice to lead his alma mater’s basketball team.
Judged against the rest of the world?
That’s something else …
In short, Manuel saw what most people see and have often seen over the years with Juwan Howard: a respectful, intelligent, self-effacing man with a baritone voice and a serious demeanor.
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