Goodman claims sources from the program say Juwan's culture is bad

I don't think it's shocking to hear that the culture isn't good. We all watched last year's team suffer because one dude, the coach's son, wasn't playing defense. HD also moped around on defense and some guys got a really long leash like Caleb Houstan when they weren't playing well.

That said, he had a good culture his first year and even Coach B had some off years with team culture. Manny Harris just going hero ball all the time etc. It's up to the coach to fix it. I have liked exactly one year of Howard's coaching. I think he's underachieved, relative to talent, in every other year. But it's still fair to let him fix it. 

The comparisons to Harbaugh are soft. Harbaugh almost made the playoffs 2x, has won everywhere he's gone and already been successful at Michigan. People who keep comparing the two are off by a lot. 

I thought at the time that things went awry when Jett wasn't benched for his horrendous defense. He half assed it. You could see and feel it. The team seemed to sulk. Then Jett got hurt and we went on a good run.  Then now when you hear Juwan defends his other son to point of altercation, it seems obvious now. When a son is in program like Jay he has to do more than everyone else, and it works. Jay has worked like a dog and it worked.  When the opposite happens it crushes the team.  I still say Juwan is par for course and has done a good job, and I really like the team we have.  But this is a problem and I admire Sanderson not playing favorites.

If there are indeed cultural problems with the team, is this partly due to Juwan’s behavior?  Some patients who have had heart problems, like Juwan’s, also have problems regulating their emotions.  They may react disproportionately to confrontations.   This may be because heart disease may be associated with structural or chemical changes in the brain.   Likewise, getting angry so easily may itself contribute to their cardiovascular or cerebral problems.  If so, I would be concerned about not only about the program’s welfare but Juwan’s too.  I care what happens to him as well as the program.  And there are treatments for people who---through no fault of their own---have trouble controlling their emotions.  Before we lose important team contributors, like Sanderson, maybe something can be done.

Sadly, it would not at all surprise me if this were true.   The whole thing is a mess and I think it is pretty clear the program needs a chance at the top.  

That's kind of the sense I've been getting. Juwan inherited a program with an excellent culture in place, and he was able to keep it going for a couple of years with the Beilein-recruited upperclassmen leaders he had on the team (Zavier, Eli, Teske, Johns, and especially Isaiah Livers). He hit home runs on the grad transfers he brought in, who easily assimilated that culture and and contributed to it (Mike Smith, Chaundee Brown), as well as a recruit who had already been vetted by Beilein (Franz Wagner).

But as those guys departed and Juwan brought in freshman recruits of his own, the Beilein culture faded and was replaced with something entirely devoid of leadership and chemistry. Now it just looks like a mess that has taken on the volatile, anger-prone personality of its head coach.

I like Goodman and all, but watching him talk is just uncomfortable. Not sure what it is but his mouth movement seems unnatural.

This strikes me as credible because it shows up on the court.  Plus, if everybody was happy it wouldn't have come out like it did. Someone was obviously looking to do maximum damage.

Juwan could have made assistant coaching changes earlier and it could have given his program a spark.  Phil isn't a bad coach but Juwan doesn't need training wheels anymore.  Eisley needs to go because he's more of an NBA guy.  Saadi looks like he needs a fresh start.  Not making the change probably doomed Juwan. 

Between the results and the stuff that happened a couple years with Wisconsin, Juwan should have the shortest of leashes. Hope the breakup is professional and no one goes out bad mouthing everything. 
 

we need Belien to be a voice and presence of reason 

I don't even need to read it.  Goodman is an asshole who has hated on Juwan before he was even named coach.

So basically two grown men got into a shouting match at a practice.  Good thing this has never happened before ever in basketball or football, because otherwise it would be a more difficult decision for Warde beyond firing Howard for cause.

Yes, I'm sure Jace is pissed he isn't playing and his recovery isn't going as expected.  He's frustrated, and he shouldn't have vented his frustrations on the trainer but he's also a college student and in the brief time I worked around athletes in college I heard them go off on rants like any normal human being.  Juwan should have told him to knock it off.  Sanderson shouldn't have screamed back at Jace and made a comment about the culture of the team publicly; that's something you should voice with staff but not talk shit about the team in front of the players.  Juwan should have pulled Sanderson aside and told him that without yelling.  Nobody handled this great, but this absolutely happens across college sports.  Hell, there were rumors about this shit in 2019 and 2020 between coaches because they weren't winning enough and tensions were high.

JFC, I can't even say this is the dumbest fucking story around Michigan athletics this year but it's up there.  If you want to fire Howard because the team is mediocre then just do it for that reason, but this is so dumb.

If true, not good Bob.  Some things can be fixed.  But a bad culture resulting from the head coach's actions or lack thereof, is unlikely to get better.  

If we look at the promise of the Juwan Howard hiring and then the reality of it the picture isn't a good one. We're in year 5 and it looks like they basically got one good year out of 5 - and that year the team was carried by guys who came to play for Beilein.

Let's face it, the chasm between where the team was meant to be and where it is is enormous. And this is college basketball in 2023, not the 'old days' or even college football where guys who need to build from the trenches take a few years. 5 years is more than enough to see a trend.

I think the comparison to Harbaugh is insulting to Harbaugh. Harbaugh got in and instantly got results. Michigan had a good team basically every year with Harbaugh except Covid year, which honestly shouldn't have been played the way it was as it wasn't a level playing field at all. Yes it took a while to break through vs Ohio State..but Ohio State has been a top 4-5 team in the country basically *every single year* in that timeframe. I'm not saying all the criticism was entirely unjustified, but it was a different type of criticism and rooted in expectations which are much much higher for the football team at Michigan.

If Michigan basketball's problem was that it beat everyone else but struggled vs the absolute elite teams in the tourney..well gee we'd not be having this conversation, we'd probably be building Juwan a fricking statue.

The simple problem of the Howard regime at Michigan is that the team isn't good and it's not getting better. I don't care what Juwan Howard achieved for the team as a player when you were a kid wearing his jersey, it's irrelevant. Howard as a coach has not delivered. That's beyond dispute.

The question you gotta ask is if you think he can turn it around, if the overall influence of the coach on the program in terms of its status and reputation is positive. And I think that's where people get very argumentative because some like him a lot as a guy, some don't. I think in pure athletic terms, he's had his shot and no-one could fault the university to look elsewhere.

If he gets another year, it'll be on the back of his history with Michigan as a player and the fact that the success of the football team distracts most of the fanbase most of the time, so there's a little more leeway for sucking on the court.

Maybe theres more at work than just the favoritism of his kids.  I remember watching games during the Caleb Houstan era and thinking how  frustrating it would be to be on the bench watching this guy be pretty underwhelming but play 36+ minutes a game.  I thought to myself I wonder if Juwan guaranteed him that playing time to secure him as a committ.  Maybe a guy like Frankie Collins, while understandby not at the same psosition, saw these types of things and I always figured he did and thats why he bolted somewhat inexplicably.

Seems like Juwan has issues coaching his sons. The team never looked right when Jett was on the team. The team looked better when he was not playing. Now an issue with Jace, by all means Jace seems like a decent kid but he is a MAC level basketball player at best. No way he would be on this team if his dad was not the coach. 

Juwan was raised by his grandmother and by south chicago....  

when adrenline triggers the fight or flight instinct.... his is fight, obviously.   it takes a lot of counseling to change that and some are never able to.

Juwan, by most reports I've ever heard or read, is a big hearted, sincere, good guy who loves Michigan.    He might be in the same boat Brady Hoke was, over his head in his dream job.  I don't think that's for certain, like it was with Brady, but it may be the case.   If he's not able to control himself when emotions get the best of him, he's not suitable to be the HC, even if his recruiting and coaching ability is good enough.

I hope it all gets sorted out, the last thing Michigan needs is another reason for the media to continue shitting on the athletic department.

This was all rather obvious last year when he refused to bench Jett for not playing defense or boxing out all year. You could see the frustration on Martelli's face. 

Nothing epitomized this more than Jett not boxing out the shooter in a pivotal moment in the Big Ten Tournament. 

https://twitter.com/Castellani2014/status/1633899635432407077

I mean we are talking about our HEAD COACH who tried taking a swing at another HEAD COACH.

Thanks for those memorable tourney runs, but Don't let the door hit you on your way out, Juwan.

It seems to me, when he lost his mentor, his high school coach (forgive me, I can't recall his name), that is when everything changed. Every time I saw Juwan, that fellow was with him. And then I believe he had a cardiac event and he was gone,  or it could have been covid. At any rate, that's when his temper came a callin.

Mark it.

You mean the coach who punches another team’s coach also has a bad culture for his team?  Shocking

I mean it could turn around, Juwan finally recruited an actual wing for next year.

For many and various reasons its time for Regime change with the least of the reasons being Hes just NOT a very good coach