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.
Warde is a pathetic, spineless, feckless desk jockey.
This would not surprise me.
Speaking of OP username, would Thad Motta be a step up from JH?
This is actually good. Warde sticks his neck out for Juwan like he did with Jim but this time the basketball team sucks again next year (because of course they will) and Warde loses credibility with Santa so he gets the axe at the same time as Juwan. 2 birds one stone.
Hell Juwan Probably has another embarrassing off court issue or two to accelerate the firings.
Will he cut Juwan’s pay in half?
There is going to be a problem if he has close to a .500 season next year. It's still bad but improving. Does that mean he gets another year trial?
Well, that’s less than ideal!
A vague “more likely than not” from Bacon, who hasn’t always been right, and in a season when insider information has repeatedly proven to be wrong. And people are already just jumping to the most extreme conclusion, that it’s a done deal that Juwan returns.
Sorry, not drawing conclusions right now. I think it’s possible that Warde repeats his Harbaugh strategy, since it clearly worked with Harbaugh. But I don’t think we can conclude it’s happening from what amounts to a “maybe” from John Bacon.
BTW do all the people who pre-emptively blamed Warde for our roster being raided now think he should be credited for good retention, or does it not work that way?
Nothing has cracked me up more than all of the "NIL at UM is terrible" people disappearing when, in fact, UM didn't lose anyone outside of Sabb while noted payer of players Alabama lost a number of high profile guys.
The only thing I can confidently say about JUB is he does not like Warde and wants him gone. It's been clear for a while. That doesn't mean he's wrong or that Manuel has done a good job but people should read any statements by Bacon about the AD with that framing in mind.
Moore and staff did an incredible job holding on to players. The most important players (starters/contributors) are mostly on defense, 3-4 having first round grades and some others looking potentially at rounds 2-4.
The NIL may not be what kept this roster in tact so much as being in a complex NFL style defense for the past 3, going on 4, years, with which they are familiar and can show out, instead of risking a drop off at another program with many more unknowns awaiting. $1-2 mm vs whatever UM is paying probably not worth it for many of the current contributors.
The 2025 roster and going forward may tell us a lot more about the success of UMs NIL approach.
Sam stated pretty definitively on a recent round table that the NIL machine had stepped up in the background to help with those retentions. He also indicated that Sabb had gotten some kind of counter offer such that he was confident in saying Sabb didn't leave for money.
I tend to believe that assessment. I think our NIL operation is quietly much better than some of us fear, and roster retention after a natty AND a coaching change is really strong evidence of that, IMO.
It is never just one thing that keeps a roster together but either all the numbers we've been hearing thrown around NIL from other teams are made up (e.g. Sabb did not get $2M from Alabama) OR Michigan's NIL program is not nearly as terrible as people have portrayed it to be. Because I very much doubt that Will Johnson or Mason Graham are worried about "transition costs" picking up a new defense from another elite football program if they wanted to switch. To say nothing of the fact that we don't actually know what defense Wink is going to run vis-a-vis what Minter and Macdonald ran - there are likely going to be changes there and some small transition costs.
And you sort of proved my point - the money difference between what others are providing vs. UM's current offer plus the non-money benefits make a transition unlikely. But there's a really good chance that the money is pretty close, which flies in the face of the oft-repeated claim that UM is significantly behind the elite programs when it comes to NIL. Because, again, if they were then the gap financially would be quite significant and UM's players would then be the first college-aged athletes in history to turn down high-six/low-7 figure totals to stick around in Ann Arbor for one more year.
Honestly, the fact UM hasn't lost many contributors of any significance since the portal era kicked into gear years ago is a pretty strong bit of evidence that UM's NIL approach works. What it has also shown is that how we grade the strength of NIL programs seems mostly tied to "paying HS kids lots of money to sign with them" and not "getting players who are good money as they perform", which are different approaches but not inherently better or worse than each other.
It does seem like NIL has stepped up, particularly very recently (holding the roster together during our portal window). Maybe its just that little bit of BPONE that Houston some how didn't eradicate, but I'm still not entirely sold considering we just sent 18 players to the combine. Last year's NIL focus was keeping guys out of the draft, this year is to keep them out of the portal I suppose.
Maybe NIL was not a factor in all 18 + Sabb, and everything is roses. But... let's see.
They won the national championship, and went 15-0. You're going to have a very difficult time convincing people who are eligible for the draft to come back. I'm actually shocked we got Moore back.
I mean, that's a tweet for 4 days ago that is seemingly just JUB complaining. I must stress this very much that a) Bacon is wrong about a ton of stuff - see basically any time he talked about Harbaugh - and b) he absolutely cannot stand Warde and will push any narrative that makes him look bad regardless of veracity. For example, he purposely misread that Sanderson report in the Athletic, assuming everything Sanderson's lawyer said was factual, similar to him repeating every statement Harbaugh's lawyer made during the tail end of contract negotiations as correct and not even stepping them back when proven wrong.
As a long time Howard defender I absolutely believe it is time for him to move on and the program hire another guy. It just ain't working. But taking Bacon as anything more than a vibes-y message board poster when it comes to credibility is a stretch in my book.
Agree. JUB's strength is in deep diving events a few years after they happen when he has time to interview those who were involved. He's not really an insider who's CC'd on all AD emails getting scoops in real time.
JUB's strength is selling books to Michigan fans, who will seemingly buy anything associated with the team.
I remember laughing when I read that anecdote in one of his books about Rashan Gary turning down a 6-figure offer from Clemson and JUB trumpeting this as the innate appeal and moral high ground of Michigan and not, even for a moment, investigating whether or not that meant Michigan was likely also handing out some form of non-traditional compensation. Like a lot of UM fans I've had my own head up my ass about the school at times but even I knew that Michigan wasn't getting guys like Peppers, DPJ, Gary, etc. based purely on how nice the campus look and how valuable a "Michigan Degree" was.
But JUB, to his credit, knows there's enough people around that'll apparently buy his BS.
Jim Hackett spoke publicly about Clemson’s offer for Gary and I said in here at the time that I really didn’t think speaking publicly about that was a good idea for this reason.
Maybe, maybe not ... but if we've learned anything during the past year of Michigan sports, it's that John U. Bacon doesn't know anything. He just has opinions.
I usually lean toward the “give the coach time” side of things. However, I really can’t reasonably justify another season for him, hard as I might try. The utter ineptitude of this season alone is shocking. Add that it’s part of a downward trend, the major temper issues, and general team and culture management scuttlebutt and I think the case is closed.
Hes an important alum, he had health issues this year, he had some recruitment issues that weren’t all his own making. I can see how those save his job for one more season after a disappointing showing this year, but the breadth and depth of this season’s failure just can’t be excused.
3-day old article based on a 4-day old tweet.
Keith Jackson has died again.
Keith Jackson has more lives than a herd of cats.
Fire warde. Why the hell is he in charge of anything? Every coaching hire he has had turns into shit
I am as displeased with Warde as most of this board. I think he played a part in us losing perhaps our greatest football coach of the modern era, he bungled the whole hockey coach issue and his handling of the NCAA and the Big Ten during sign-gate were pathetic. I’d love to see him go. But the guy was just named head of the CFP playoff committee. Realistically, he isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Also, many of the regents think highly of him.
As to Juwan, I don’t think his return is guaranteed. At most, Warde is leaning towards giving him another year. Since the Bacon tweet, the program has further cratered, getting blown out by Rutgers (!!!) by 30 and then getting embarrassed by Ohio State. This is a tire fire. At a minimum, Warde has to be weighing his options. I hope that all of the alum, especially those who donate, have been reaching out to Warde to let him know that they will not be renewing their season tickets and will not be donating to this disaster of a program until we make a change. That’s the only thing that we as fans can do to move the needle here.
CFB Committee "Hmnn. Who'd be a puppet that we can push around?"
Don’t you think that if the people actually in charge who judge Warde’s performance would have fired him by now if all of this were true?
Not if their main criterion is making money.
Right, but that's shortsighted. Don't you think Michigan with Jim Harbaugh is more valuable than Michigan without? So if Harbaugh marched in and said "It's me or Warde," you don't think they would give Warde the boot?
I agree with your thoughts, a guy who has been named the head of the CFP is not going to get fired by his university. There are many reasons he should, but he has too much support and he's not going anywhere soon.
Now what he does with Howard is an open question. Right now I'd call it a flip of the coin if it happens. In about 2 weeks hopefully we will have an answer. If he retains Howard though he doesn't have to answer any questions about it since Howard is still under contract. More than likely we will know only by 1) its announced Howard and Michigan have parted ways, or 2) we hear 1 or more assistants have been fired which tells us Howard is staying on condition of hiring new staff.
I do hope that many of those that Warde trusts or listens too have conveyed that Howard needs to go. If not this program will be literally at the bottom of the crater in a years time.
michgoblue-appreciate the post and well stated.
If I were a season ticket holder for football not sure I could consider dropping after winning the NATTY (for MGrowOld) but I appreciate your position.
Any real Michigan fan would have expected Harbaugh to leave after winning a NC and Howard to stay after the worst season ever.
Nailed it
If Warde is even considering retaining Howard, then Warde must go. Lethargy is no substitute for leadership.
Howard will get another year, but I think it will be his last! Dug most likely will enter the portal. Only way Howard survives if he can get some good players through the portal, or he recruits another fab 5!
Next year recruiting is over. Portal a Fab Five would be the Hail Mary
Yes, you are correct. So we go a Fab 0 this past recruiting cycle. I doubt anyone good would want to portal to this team. I feel sorry for Howard, he was off to a good start and recruited well but all his superstars only played one year then left for the NBA.
This has been a lost season for weeks now. I imagine the AD and Howard have already briefly discussed what changes need to be made for next season.
I think most already knew this based on Warde's past comments. If Warde wants Howard to be successful next year, then he needs to be relaxed on NIL and force Howard to replace some assistants.
This isn't a Beilein situation where JB was a brilliant offensive coach and he recognized he needed help with the defense; if there really is an assistant out there who can prop up Juwan and make him successful, then we ought to just hire that guy as the HC.
We r thoroughly in the clutches of Warde mediocrity that isn’t ending anytime soon. Santa’s too political to change that. Thank God for Harbaugh to get us a natty as the only relief as all hopes crumble.
Santa has demonstrated he is just a coward who is a sports fan. He’s nothing more. Look forward to Bacons book on the Harbaugh exit. I’d suspect some not great words will be written on Ono too.
I can’t wait to not read any of his books because guy is a weasel who gerbil’d up Bo’s ass and now thinks he knows things. He try’s to stay relevant.
Look at the Harbaugh stuff. Alls he did was spew nonsense then just put at the end “no one knows anything” to protect his view. It’s really funny to fall for that stuff.
I also would prefer to see both Warde and Howard employed elsewhere next season for pretty obvious reasons, but for everyone else teeming about Ann Arbor Torch and Pitchfork, what reason do you have to specifically believe JUB who has been as about as accurate as one of our hoops players during the second half of games?
I’m not super optimistic either based on my shared unhappiness with Warde but at least put down the pitchforks until we have confirmation on Juwan’s status.
As others have pointed out I think Howard should have taken more time off after his surgery. In January of 2023 I had a surgery similar to the one Howard had I am six years younger. I went back to work in 3 months but it was probably close to one year before I really felt back to normal.
Lest we forget, he did not serve as head coach for the Phil Martelli Charity Classic
Anyone want to take a bet John U has no inside info on any of this?
Well, if you truly feel as strongly about this as many of you appear to do, time to make your voice heard with your wallet. Because that’s the only way that you’ll get Warde’a attention. Like almost every other AD in the country, he couldn’t care less what the masses are saying about him in online forums.
If you really want Howard gone, stop buying tickets and stop sending donations. Enough of that, and enough of Purdue and MSU fans flooding the arena to make virtual home games for their teams, and the AD will truly be backed into a corner.
I said it in another thread but this the correct view. It’s always the only thing a fan can do
I agree with Bo, that Bacon has some knowledge sometimes but also says some jackass things. And he has it in for Warde, so this will rile people up....the poll he did regarding Warde, if true, was despicable.
Having said that, IF he returns, well, i don't know the remaining player eligibility, but I would imagine if they do have some, and there will be a few transfers.n
And incoming transfers know he is a sitting duck so the incoming player quality would be MAC level at best. We're in trouble.