Exit Jon Sanderson
The program’s descent began with Juwan’s slap in Madison. Wisconsin’s AD quickly used the victims card with the media, while Warde stayed silent. This incident, by itself, has been used by opposing teams to recruit against Michigan.
Counting on a university HR office to investigate an incident and rule against a coach is rare. HR officials are as useful as tits on a bull.
The reported incident with Sanderson should provide Warde with enough evidence for Juwan to be released with cause.
So the Michigan Basketball team loses by 30 points to Rutgers, who they never lost too since this season. Our athletic department makes the decision to get rid of the guy who physically developed countless under the radar recruits that helped the team make two national championship games instead of getting rid of the coach that has overseen arguably the worst season and team in the last 60 years. Also, to this point Sanderson has been nothing but an upstanding person and was beloved by the players he trained for over a decade. I wanted to write that all out to fully comprehend where we are at this moment in time. Unreal of how low the program has sank. If Warde keeps Howard after the season President Ono needs to get involved yet again.
The blew a lead to them last season for their first loss. I think Rutgers has won 3 or the last 4 or at least the last 2.
Juwan has lost 3 in a row to Rutgers. He has yet to beat Illinois, another team we owned prior to his arrival. He has a losing record against MSU despite this being the worst 4 year stretch of Izzo's career.
He beats OSU at least so I'll give him that.
I am a huge Juwan fan. I love what he did for the program as a player, I love the passion he brought to the program as a coach, and I can’t see any possible way he deserves to keep his job.
Warde’s mission now has to be finessing an off ramp for Big Nook. Sometimes, frankly, things just don’t work out. Maybe none of this is Juwan’s fault, and still, that doesn’t matter. He should be looking to help Warde locate that off ramp as it benefits all parties for the exit to be graceful.
We shall see very soon what Warde is made of.
<<too mean spirited>>
Season ticket renewal rate < 50%.
There we go...that solves the issues of this team. Now they are gonna take the B1G Tournament and head to the dance and win it all.
Ohio just fired a coach midseason with 5 20 win seasons and no disciplinary issues and Warde is retaining a guy with 1 20 win season and a plethora of off-court issues.
Pull the trigger now so UM isn't scraping the barrel for mid major rejects in June
There is no reason for Howard to remain at UM and even less for Warde. His ability to hitch himself to the wrong wagon is the only impressive thing about him.
Not a lawyer, but it is interesting there is only one email released as part of the FOIA.
IMO that means the U is holding back others for personnel privacy reasons, that no other emails were sent/received, or that they are being withheld against FOIA regulations. I would think student athlete accounts could be released with names redacted. Certainly there has to be info from the other trainer and coaches that were present. Perhaps a FOIA specialist can comment on what is allowed to be withheld and why.
That said, if he charged Sanderson, then that is threatening violence in the workplace and JH should have been immediately suspended if corroborated, especially with two prior on-court instances.
Having had my son "on staff" in one of my ventures? Here's my unsolicited advice to Howard.
Coach, it's tricky but do-able and the key is that your son has to be held to a subtley higher standard than his working peers. That is:
If others need to ace something to advance, your kid needs to ace plus it. If the kid makes a mistake or falls out of step/line, then the boss (you) need to stay out of it *completely* while the kid gets corrected and put back on track with zero favoritism shown in *any* way as you let the kid's supervisor deal with it.
And. Be prepared for some interesting dinner conversations with the boy, private ones, in which you talk about needing to meet higher standards and having to just "deal with it" if it seems like he's got a tougher road than his peers.
In the end? The kid will benefit from the challenge, the supervisor will feel like you've got his back, and the team will know that things are being handled fairly, based on merit, not nepotism.
Didn’t tow the company line.
*Toe (as in keeping your toes behind a line)
Thankfully there’s a hockey game tonight
Actually on BTN tonight!!!!!!!!
What do Warde and Juwan have to do to get fired?
Please just fire Howard and move on. This program is in the gutter with no hope on the horizon unless you dump Howard.
Maybe the witness reports about how Sanderson interacted with Jace were less favorable than the account Sanderson provided. Something caused people in HR to side with Juwan. That has nothing to do with Juwan, Sanderson, or Warde. I'm guessing both guys were acting unfavorably, one had to go, and the guy higher up the chain kept his job.
I’m gonna side that the guy who threatened to kill 1 head coach and slapped another assistant coach was at fault
Now its official, official....Howard has now deleted EVERYTHING that JB did/brought here.
What a terrible coach
He still employs Saddi doesn’t he?
Look it's just management 101 that when two guys get into a dispute and one of them is one of the most dogshit and incompetent employees you have and the other one is well respected as one of the absolute best at his job, you fire the guy who is well respected and competent.
Epic failure on the part of our athletic director.
Fire that clown.
To me the most disappointing thing at this point is that there's no way Sanderson's kid plays ball here, and he appears to be pretty good. I just hope he doesn't end up torturing Michigan by playing for another BIG program.
Go to MSU and lift your leg on the university is the move.
Unfortunately, it is possible.
I wouldn’t want to stay either. The program I helped John Beilein build, one of the most respected programs in the entire country, is gone. Dead and buried. Nothing of it is left anymore.
Warde has sided with the wrong guy. He’s chosen this. And honestly at this point, I’m more mad at Warde with the state of the basketball program than I am with Juwan.
The Juwan experiment hasn’t worked, but I don’t doubt that Juwan tried his best and gave it his all. I respect him for trying and at the end of the day, giving your best effort is all you can ask of him. I don’t think he cheated Michigan out of a day of work.
But now it’s on someone above Juwan to make the call and do what’s necessary for the program. And like Dave Brandon, unless he’s forcibly removed, I don’t trust Warde to make that decision.
I don’t doubt that Juwan tried his best and gave it his all. I respect him for trying and at the end of the day, giving your best effort is all you can ask of him. I don’t think he cheated Michigan out of a day of work.
On the court he's tried his best, I don't doubt that. But off the court, when it comes to selling his program to the public, he's mailed it in. Compare him with Izzo, who is constantly - annoyingly - doing public events to sell his program.
He evidently hasn't done a great job verifying with admissions whether potential transfers can get in, either.
You’re not wrong, but I think top leadership needs to set those expectations and enforce them if they’re not being met.
Similar with the NCAA compliance. The things JJH got in trouble for, it seems, could have been mitigated or avoided if better governance was in place, basically a support structure for the coaches and program as a whole. From an outside view, there seem to be some gaps in that regard…
The fact that this altercation happened at all is on the coach and the guy who is his boss. The fact that an outstanding strength coach is now leaving only makes it worse. What a clown show.
""I don’t know how you guys were raised but how I was raised by my grandmother and also by Chicago,” Howard said in explaining that outburst. “I was raised by Chicago, I grew up on the South Side, when guys charge you, it’s time to defend yourself.”
-Howard post Wisconsin embarrassment
This is who Howard is. A 51 year old man that thinks he has to be overly aggressive when feeling threatened. In his mind he is rightfully defending himself. In reality, he escalates things negatively with uncontrolled aggression. He has no business being a leader of young men in any compactity. And on top of that he also happens to be a terrible coach.
I don't know. In the non sports adult world people usually aren't coming at you. If someone pushes me while talking shit like the Wisconsin guy I'm probably going to keep my cool, but I'm going to have to work at it. The Sanderson side of the story sounds plausible and makes it look like it is a Juwan problem. I'm sure the added stress of losing doesn't help.
I'm not sure how he turns the program back around. The outbursts have to hurt recruiting other than maybe a one and done, but as we've seen with Jett, Diabate, and Houstan, most one and dones aren't worth the time. (Izzy was great). He could pull in some transfers, but our admissions and the NCAA keep screwing him over.
Hopefully with his kids out of the program he has some time to figure it out.
Fire him now!
That’s a bummer, man
Blow it up, start all over again. One issue after another, just need to make a clean sweep of the program and bring in an entire new team.
The good news is, step 1 is pretty much already done
Shame
If the email description of the incident is accurate (and there were apparently witnesses present), Juwan should have been dismissed. I would tend to believe the word of a longtime employee like Sanderson who had no prior incidents, especially since Juwan has had a couple incidents of poor anger control.
I really liked Juwan but he should have been removed already based on conduct issues and performance. On the court, it's been a several year decline and there's no prospect for improvement next year unless a miracle happens. The team is unwatchable. Warde definitely needs to make a change after this season at the latest. If he fails to do so, we need an AD change too.
As others have pointed out, this is one version of what happened. Sanderson probably could have handled it better as well. If there's already a spectacle going on, I'm not sure how yelling from 30 feet away is the best approach. Why not go see what the issue is? Also, his adding "you're a student athlete " didn't need to be said and wasn't the best way to de-escalate (I have no problem with his saying the staff are professionals and should be treated as such).
No matter what, though, that's no excuse for the HC to act like he did.
Ever been in a weight room? Yelling from 30’ away is normal behavior
If one is trying to pump a guy up so that he can lift heavy weights... To "deescalate" an altercation, I'm not so sure.
Either way, it's just one single questionable moment from Sanderson, likely built on frustration that he had suppressed for months (if not longer) as he had a close-up view of the program spiraling into ineptitude.
As has been well documented, it's one a litany of bad moments for Juwan. It's a damn shame that the one the guy will be leaving before the other.
I would bet Howard steps down after the season due to "health concerns".
I hope he does, but his comments about continuing to coach make me doubt that he will. Seems the man is too proud
When Juwan Howard assaulted an opposing coach in the hand shake line we were given an out. We should have taken it.
Exit on his own? Sounds like he should have.
Warde, Juwan and Jace all need to be shown the door. The entire Cabal is an incestuous cancer. Until Warde is gone, UM sports will continue to fall into the abyss of former greats. Warde won't fire Juwan for obvious reasons. If you don't see it, you're blind.