John U Bacon: Juwan Howard return more likely than not
I guess it's time to get the torches and pitchforks back out of storage from the Brandon era.
This is an aneurysm of leadership. Howard is overall a good guy with an amazing legacy at Michigan. He just isn’t the guy to coach our basketball team to success witnessed by his worsening performance each season - culminating in the worst season in M bball history.
This is a weekly aneurysm of Thad.
fify
Do we really need to go through this again? We all know the reasons--they're clear as day and have been analyzed ad nauseam. Why go through yet another huge bitch session when it does nothing but spread anger and vitriol?
(Side note: Juwan likely deserves to be relieved of his duties. However, I think Thad should be relieved of his keyboard, too.)
It's not a bitch session. Bacon said that Warde wants to bring Juwan back as of March 1st. That's the first that I have heard of anyone plugged in saying anything about it. You can discuss how Juwan can make it work next year with recruits and assistant coaches etc. I want to hear about what we are doing to replace Juwan and Warde if he is unwilling to do anything. We cannot go on like this. This is like if Hackett said "forget about that Harbaugh guy. Let's give Hoke another chance in the 2015 season."
You might not understand this, but unless Warde Manuel sends your aunt (grandma?) a poorly thought out email in the middle of the night, you have exactly zero say in what happens to anyone in the Athletic Dept. "We" aren't going to do anything. As has been reiterated SO many times, if "we" (you) had had your way in 2020, Jim Harbaugh would have been sent packing.
And please, save your tiresome rebuttal; I am not saying JH and JH are comparable.
"We" can go on like this. You and so many others apparently believe there are only two outcomes: 1. Keep Juwan and continue to lose endlessly; 2. Hire a new coach, and everything will turn to roses. You are the coaching version of a Monday morning quarterback, except everyday seems to be Monday. I am so exhausted from people who have no responsibility or accountability spewing hatred and nonsense about others. Do you really believe Warde Manuel isn't weighing his options? Do you really believe he is mindlessly going to let JH continue because it's the "easy" thing to do? The narrative that you and others have spun is simply ridiculous, and you have zero evidence. You just want to bitch.
On a related note, funny story: I just remembered a guy I sat next to at the Big Ten Championship game in Indy. In the 3rd quarter, with U of M up by more than enough points to assure victory, he began to vociferously complain that we weren't winning by enough points to satisfy his needs. He literally began screaming at the sidelines (from the 2nd deck, mind you) to start throwing the ball. Never mind that Jim Harbaugh was doing what he always did/has done/will do. Never mind that it was Iowa on the opposite sideline. Never mind that we were 12-0 at the time. This savant simply could not understand why we would hold back all of our plays that we had been saving all year instead of using them against Iowa.
Long story short, it was not nice to meet you. Please stop posting as all you do is fill the board with negativity, again and again...and again and again. Since 2011, you have been a recurring cancer. Please stop.
Do you really believe he is mindlessly going to let JH continue because it's the "easy" thing to do?
Yes
Hey angry sea...STFU...FFS!!!!
Who the hell are you to tell people not to voice their opinion, so it's okay for you to voice yours?
Not firing Juwan is a dereliction of duty, it's not remotely similar to Harbaugh.
Harbaugh improved every team he went to and overnight to boot.
Juwan has taken a perennial top 10-15 program and proceeded to run it into the ground all while being a temperamental embarrassment for the school.
Warde is a jackass who waits too long to take action.
FIRE juwan!!!!
You must be trolling, SDM. Seriously? Perhaps you're Thad's second account. Okay, I'll bite.
One, I have no issue if people voice their opinion. Read what I wrote--I literally emphasized that's it's not what Thad said, it's that he has said it over and over. That's what the "...again and again...and again and again" part meant. Feel free to peruse his history; this is a broken record on nonstop repeat.
Two, I again--LITERALLY--said there's no point in comparing the football program of 2020 to the basketball program of today: "And please, save your tiresome rebuttal; I am not saying JH and JH are comparable." Yet what did you do? Yep, you did. Would it make a difference if I said I believe Juwan Howard should be fired?
Finally, I emphasized the point that too many people on here, like Thad, tend to name call and make personal attacks. You proceeded to call Warde "a jackass." I stand by my argument.
I was going to define the word "nuance," but I'm sure it wouldn't make a difference. You want Howard's and Manuel's heads on a platter, I get it. Welcome to 1790's Paris. However, if you're going to tell me how wrong I am, at least read my side carefully before making arguments that support my side.
You need professional help if this is what can get you so riled up.
Feel free to your opinion. This site used to be exemplary in that it didn't devolve into what it frequently does today. It made me think critically about our amazing university in so many different ways, and both sides could intellectually debate while sticking to the issues--or at least add to the issue and not regurgitate the same, tired points.
Those days are apparently over.
“As has been reiterated SO many times, if "we" (you) had had your way in 2020, Jim Harbaugh would have been sent packing.” I wasn’t in favor of firing Harbaugh, but aside from Howard lacking Harbaugh’s track record, his problems have been just as much off the court as on. It isn’t only the team’s won-loss record. Even during his worst season, Harbaugh conducted himself like an adult and didn’t embarrass the university.
...his problems have been just as much off the court as on. It isn’t only the team’s won-loss record. Even during his worst season, Harbaugh conducted himself like an adult and didn’t embarrass the university.
Just to be clear, I completely agree.
Personal attacks against incompetent leadership are fine. Not personal attacks against each other. That may have been over the line.
also. Fire warde.
Your avatar really checks out.
Word. 100%.
It's like everyone screaming that Warde should fire Juwan now, that waiting another two weeks is insanely damaging to the program. Damn.
I don’t understand your argument. This is a Michigan sports blog and the main sport going on right now is experiencing its worst season in about 60 years. Not much positive you can say, so the only real discussion is probably going to be negative. Should we only post during seasons that are going well. Or should we just be blind to what’s going on.
Also, you know if you don’t like a topic you don’t have to click on it, read it, and comment on it several times.
Never mind the larger discussion about Howard. (I agree with you.) This killed me:
It's not a bitch session.
That's pretty much what you do here.
Bacon didn't say anything about Warde wanting Howard back; Bacon is just claiming it's more likely than not based on, AFAIK, vibes. Also, Bacon is not "plugged in" with the AD; he rather clearly doesn't like Warde but he's been pretty consistently wrong about a lot of important things around the AD for years now.
U. Bacon is probably just coming to the same conclusion as many others on this board. Changing coaches is more work than giving Juwan another year. Warde always seems to choose the path that minimizes his own effort. Ergo, Juwan is back next year.
I mean, as a denizen of this board, we're pretty stupid as a group and have been wrong numerous times - look no further than basically the entire coaching search, roster retention, etc. - so if Bacon is using the logic employed here then he's really not someone who should be taken seriously.
Changing coaches is honestly much easier than retaining Howard - you keep him around and you hear about how shitty your current coach is, he's likely feeling a ton of pressure, the fanbase is calling for your head, etc. Moving on from Howard is way easier - nobody will be mad at you outside of some Fab 5 diehards, you buy yourself 2-3 more years of having to reckon with the state of your basketball team maybe just being a bit fluke-ish under Beilein, and it's not like Howard is early on in his new deal so the money isn't that hard to eat. Again, if Warde keeps Howard without some truly epic concessions and changes he should be run out of town, but thus far all we've heard and seen from him is some lukewarm "I'm not going to knife a guy during the season" statements.
Good point, Bronx. This board is off base sometimes, but all we (and Mr. U. Bacon) can do is take the data available to us and formulate a hypothesis that fits. That doesn't guarantee we will be ultimately right, but we have a tentative explanation in the moment until more information comes to light.
I don't agree that changing coaches is easier than keeping Juwan, though. To keep Juwan, Warde has to do literally NOTHING. Juwan is under contract, so Warde can just let this season end and then allow Juwan to start preparing for the next one. Finding a new coach means working out a buyout with Juwan, identifying and interviewing candidates, putting together a contract offer, and probably a million other things. Also, if the new coach does not perform up to expectations, people will be rightfully blaming Warde for making the wrong decision. By keeping Juwan he avoids all of that.
I'm not trying to pick on you specifically, but this is the type of post which shows how many people on this site have no idea what the life and responsibilities of an AD really are.
The functional interviewing and developing contracts is nothing to the AD. This is all about the largest donors to the AD and the basketball program.
An AD first has to make sure the top donors are all in alignment on getting rid of a coach. Then comes the really fun part, they need to get all of the top donors aligned around who the next coach should be. Good luck getting all those ego's to agree. The reality is, all these people with their money which really makes the thing we all love run, they get pretty fickle with how their money is spent. If it doesn't align with what they want, that money suddenly doesn't flow anymore.
Much of the NIL money is tied to these big donors. Do you want NIL for the basketball program to get worse at Michigan? The fastest route to that is a divisive coaching search where the AD can't get the donors aligned on a candidate.
This is why you wait to the end of the season. You have the full body of work for all of the donors to evaluate. Not just Juwan's performance, but all of the candidates you may be evaluating. It's easier (and by easier, I mean getting your wisdom teeth extracted vs. a full root canal) to get donor alignment this way.
The team is 3-16 in conference and 8-22 overall. They are not even going to be invited to the NIT. What would have been gained for the team had Juan been fired at 3-12, 3-13, 3-14? I'm guessing it would make a difference to some of those top donors who loved the Fab Five and wouldn't want Juwan embarrassed that way.
Warde on Juwan:
“It would be fair to say I have not really thought about any changes in our men’s basketball program at this time,” Manuel said. “It’s one of those things that — I guess I can’t say it any clearer; I want to support Juwan to be successful and have not given any moment or thought of anything about changes at this time. And so my support is of him, of our student-athletes, and our staff.”
This shows ineptitude. Or, he's blatantly lying despite the obvious. He's not fooling anyone. I get it he has to play nice but man, when you're positioned to be the worst EVER in program history, you can be more self-aware and show little transparency. Or at least don't say some bullshit (with "not at this time" bs caveat) and expect people to believe things will turn around w/o change. It's not a good look.
That said, sadly, I believe Warde brings Juwan back next season.
That is such an absurd reading of a boilerplate answer to a question asked about a coach you are not going to make any move on until the offseason. He is literally saying “we’re in the season now and I am not going to make a move during the season and I will support my coach and team during the season.”
Everything else you read there is just reading what you want to read to draw the conclusion you want to draw. Warde has said nothing at all about what happens in the offseason.
One of the reasons people like Bronx and me are constantly in these threads throwing water on the anti-Warde stuff is because is much of the anti-Warde stuff is based on stuff like this that has no actual relationship to what’s going on.
Judge Warde on what he does, not on meaningless quotes like this.
Thank you. The quote from Manuel indicates nothing about what could happen once the season is over. And the season should be over in about 9 days.
Agree. No matter what he may or may not be thinking about Juwan at this time, there is no other acceptable public answer he can give here.
I guess Warde is just waiting for "the sh*t to work". Charlie Brown kicking a football.
Uh oh ... someone posted something on mgoblog that wasn't pre-approved by the mgoblog cult. Off with his head!!
Is he a good guy? He’s tried to fight multiple coaches, not even including the one on his staff.
He seems to be a good guy per his works in the community, relationships across the NBA with players and other coaches, and the seemingly positive relationships he had with his players - at least until his sons joined the program.
He clearly has a temper and probably some sort of anger management issues. Doesn’t make him a bad guy, just flawed (like all of us), but in a particularly specific way that is detrimental to coaching college basketball in this era.
To me he seems like a good guy who clearly has some anger management issues and being totally in over his head is exacerbating that problem
Yeh,
I'm always unclear on what it takes to get the "good guy" moniker. Pretty much all head coaches do charity work, visit hospitals etc.
Not everyone has to be a good guy. Juwan seemed like he's grown a lot in his life, but he does have some black marks against his character, not the least of which is being sued multiple times by different women he cheated on his spouse with for giving them VD.
Fuck Ward. If it takes next season being even worse for both Juwan AND Ward to be fired then I hope that's what happens. The most humorous outcome would be every player transferring and Juwan's last season consisting of playing exclusively walk-ons.
This is an aneurysm of leadership
Don't insult Zach Novak that way. Brian used the term positively - Novak blowing up on the sidelines in an attempt to rally the troops. Warde is not exactly that kind of person, to put it gently.
The Aneurysm of Leadership was a good thing.
I thought that was this...
Recruiting is going to be fun.
If they aren't going to fire him then they need to work with him. If he was able to get Shannon and Love or whatever transfers then the team wouldn't be this bad.
With Dug likely transferring, next years roster will be scary bad without major portal work.
Allow me to summarize the average game experience with theoretical additions of Love and/or Shannon: hero-ball garbage with awful defense, an insane amount of turnovers, and very few adjustments for when teams figure out how to stop our offensive “gameplan.”
The only thing we’re missing out in is an extra 3-4 wins from hero-ball variance when they shoot 8-10 from 3 or something (nobody on the team currently is talented enough or well coached enough to do this). Otherwise, the experience is absolutely identical to what we have now
IMO, Shannon and Love would've regressed under Howard especially defensively, just like Nkamhoua and Burnett did.
Agreed. Brown and Smith did well as transfers in during the 2021 season. It hasn't gone well with transfers since then.
Seems a little like the Brian Ferentz situation when the people in charge want to be the smartest people in the room and claim they know more than the people with eyeballs.
I can see that given his heart attack, being an alum, and as a member of the Fab five, he will get one more year. I don’t agree but pitchforks aren’t going to change anything
And given the uncertainty, the portal, nil, and more, I don’t see how he can turn things around.
So let’s discuss who can we get a year from now?
He didn't have a "heart attack."
Sure. What he had was worse and thank god they repaired it. But how is that even the point.
Last year Juwan had an All American Center and two 1st round draft picks and failed to make the NCAA tournament.
And this year is this year.
Why would we delay the rebuild.
to save money
Saving money would make sense if the topline wasn't shrinking as well.
I agree. If there was going to be a probation year, a chance to turn it around year, it should have been this one. If the team were the same as they were this time last year, i.e. on the bubble between the NIT and tournament, you'd have a real debate about keeping Juwan. But the level of regression is absolutely stunning. I don't see what anyone could expect to gain out of a theoretical 24-25 season with Juwan. The ceiling is low and the floor is an unfinished basement.
The floor is quicksand.