New Head Coach Please
New head coach please. Thank you for trying Mr. Howard. This is the only route and it needs to happen now. Interim is fine to finish out but start the official search tomorrow morning. If not, I got nothing.
I have not been able to bring myself to watch recently, but have been following box scores. Is there any clear reason the team is so much worse in the second half than in the first? Is it just fatigue due to no depth? I can't think of another possible reason really
skim milk drinkers, all of them.
Sure seems like we could use a strength and conditioning coach.
Other teams also have competent coaching staffs that make coaching adjustments, we don’t have that.
Bye, Felicia.
This team isn't just losing, they are losing horribly. The players have definitely checked out.
“ This shit works “ ….
But it’s still 💩
I suspect there are already discussions in place for him to leave but there's a level of tact and face saving involved for everyone. I just can't imagine next season proceeding with Howard at the top barring something absolutely insane happening
Howard is going to receive the same opportunity that Harbaugh did to turn things around. I imagine a reworked contract and staffing changes happen, but he'll receive one more year.
Harbaugh situation was different with COVID year and everything that went with that.
Harbaugh had issues with Ohio St long before the covid season though. There were question marks beyond that Covid Season.
Howard’s team is completely lost and non competitive. This isn’t about trying to topple the top team, it’s about cratering a program to the extent that they are unable to compete with other teams in the big ten.
Completely agree. Theres a big difference in Harbaugh’s getting over the OSU hump, and Howard’s simply not even being able to beat any Big Ten team in year 5. Harbaugh has a track record of being a successful coach at every stop he’s been at, self-awareness in offseason self-evaluation, recruiting and developing players.
I am not convinced Howard is able to re-evaluate what and how they do things, when he said his system works, and its the players not buying in. We all wished this would have worked out, but these are the kids Howard recruited, and the culture they’ve created.
Would Juwan want that? He seems to be loyal (probably to a fault) to his staff.
Perhaps it's a way to leverage him out the door? Give him an "easy way or the hard way" offer wherein he gets bought out or he agrees to a revised (and unfavorable) contract and staff changes. Maybe that's enough of a push for him to settle with Michigan and walk away. Michigan would save a bit of face in regards to the Fab Five legacy narrative -- "hey, we gave him a chance, but he turned it down."
I don't know what's it like to be in Juwan's shoes, but I don't think I'd have my staff take the fall for the shit-show that's on hand. There's clearly enough blame to go around, so I'd accept my share and look for a change. Seems like that would be the best thing for me personally. It's not like money would be an issue.
I have no idea, just speculating. I, like many, would like a completely clean slate, but I have no idea what to expect from the AD.
His staff isn’t the problem. He is.
They’re all part of the problem. If the staff was good, the team wouldn’t be this bad. This team looks like it’s never been coached and doesn’t do anything well.
Howard’s situation has nothing in common with Harbaugh. The basketball program has been on a downward trajectory for Howard’s entire tenure.
I like it when the team runs sets on offense and tries on defense. Can we get a team that does that? Or maybe even a head coach that demands that?
I'd take just tries on defense.
He’s ass, my dude.
Year 5. Dead last. No Covid year. I'm not sure what else is needed for this decision to happen. Maybe an AD with a spine?
Kind of reminds me of Alan Trammel managing the Detroit tigers in the early 2000s. He lost 119 games in his first year (nearly an all time record), and we kept him around for two more years just to watch him lose 90+ again, and again. At least Juwan had some success early on with John B's players, and he can probably go back to being an assistant in the NBA as Trammel landed as a special assistant for the past couple of decades. Best thing for everyone right now is to rip off the band aid.
Trammel was set up to fail. Howard wasn’t
Nope.
If it was going to happen during the season it would have gone down by now. When has Warde made any major decision quickly?
Best case scenario anyway is that Warde is the first one fired. Our next AD---not Warde---should be the person doing the hiring.
Good post.
Despite the football team’s national championship, the wrestling team’s 24-11 upset of Iowa, the possibility that the hockey team will hang within the top 14 in the Pairwise rankings to get to the NCAA tournament and the lacrosse teams getting off to good starts (men are 5-1; women are 6-0), this is setting up to be the worst year in Michigan sports in a very long time.
After finishing among the top ten schools in the final Directors’ Cup standings in five of the six years in which the standings were kept before 2023 (the 2020 standings were canceled due to the pandemic), Michigan finished 11th last year and was ranked 21st in the final 2023-24 fall standings. LINK
Football has had to overhaul its staff and the worst men’s basketball team in 57 years just lost its successful strength and conditioning coach.
Baseball’s 4-8; softball’s 11-9. Remember when those teams were pretty good, like 2019 when UM baseball went 50-22, was runner-up in the College World Series and UM softball went 43-11 and won the conference and conference tournament championships?
#FireWarde
If Howard isn't fired, would you blame Manuel more for keeping Howard, or Ono more for keeping Manuel?
Unless we forget....ward sucked at UConn... thoroughly botched the Calhoun replacement, watched the football team go into the crapper.... etcetera
My head knows you're right, but my heart says that the football team's National Championship means it's the best year ever for Michigan athletics.
True. I would take this football/basketball results combination every single year.
Understood.
The 1988-89 year wasn’t too shabby. In Bo Schembechler’s 20th season as head coach, Michigan’s football team went 9–2–1 record (7–0–1 in the Big Ten), won the Big Ten championship, defeated USC in the 1989 Rose Bowl, outscored opponents by a total of 361 to 167 and was ranked No. 4 in the final AP and UPI polls. Four months after winning the Rose Bowl game, Michigan won the NCAA men’s basketball championship. The baseball team was 49-16 and won the Big Ten regular season title; the softball team was 42-20.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56xJstjz7Tk
If you're feeling like watching Juwan's presser, click on the link. In summary, he says with a week off before the next game they can work on basics, passing lanes, defense, etc.
My 0.02, shouldn't this have been done somewhere around 30 games ago? This upcoming game is their last and best chance to win in the past few weeks. Nebraska is not as good on the road, but will it matter? All it takes is to get a couple of turnovers and get in their heads again. At this point I just can't wait for this miserable season to be concluded and then Warde do whatever he wants to do.
I feel like a presser after another whooping when you're last in the league is just a no-win situation. What's he gonna say? "Yeah we suck. I'm gonna get fired. We'll just show up next week and go through the motions till the inevitable happens"
That would be refreshing actually. But waiting until game 30 to say that you’re gonna start working on the basics is a slap in the face to the fan base.
I thought this shit worked? Seriously when he said that I figured it was the end!
Two words
Shaka
Smart
I wouldn’t complain if we could make that happen. I would also offer Dusty May double whatever IU is going to offer him (assuming they move on from Woodson to get May) and at least make him say no.
I have nothing new to contribute, but need to restate what others have said for therapeutic reasons.
Juwan took a top 10 program and drove it into the ground in 5 years. Two years ago we were a bubble team who got fortunate and won a couple games in the tournament. Last year we took a step back and missed the tournament while having two draft picks and an All American on the roster. This is the third straight year of regression, to the point that we are in last place by a wide margin—4 games clear of the second worst team—in a shitty Big Ten. And there is absolutely no hope for a better season next year. There’s not one player that I’m looking forward to seeing next year. Please don’t say Dug or Tarris. Dug is allergic to defense, takes horrible shots, and is way too loose with the ball. Tarris has developed zero offensive game. When he gets the ball in the post, he takes 4-5 seconds to decide what to do, by that time someone comes to double him and he turns it over. There is NO WAY you can bring Juwan back. And this is without mentioning his off court/anger issues.
By the way, I think it’s bullshit that Sam Webb refuses to even bring up basketball with Brian and Seth. He gave Craig like the last 3 minutes of the show last week or the week before to talk basketball, and that’s all I can remember hearing on the roundtable over the last 5-6 weeks. We don’t need to hear 45 minutes of talk about UM’s NIL approach, or discussing assistant football coaches for 4 straight weeks. Let Brian and Seth at least address the nightmare that is Michigan basketball.
Let's hope Jay Wright has the itch again.
That would be a dream come true. He'd be a good fit at Michigan. He's like a more handsome, somewhat more accomplished John Beilein. Ann Arbor would love him.
I have a hard time seeing him get the itch though. He seems like a guy who looked at NIL and the portal and decided he wanted less stress in his life.
That would be a grand slam hire, but it felt like he was walking away from Villanova when he was still in his prime. Or darn near close to it. He may be like Beilein in that he saw what college sports is evolving into with NIL and decided he wanted no part of it. Wouldn't blame him.
Doesn't mean you don't make the call and just make him tell you no, but I'd put the odds at 10% at best. Also, its not like Beilein just left so the next guy gets to inherit a really stinking good roster and a great team culture. Whoever comes in next year, assuming its not Howard, is facing at least one year, maybe two, of growing pain transitional costs where the team is still going to be pretty bad.
Its not like we could sell to Jay Wright that this team is built to contend right now. He's starting from square one. Everything Beilein built is long gone. I doubt he wants to spend another few years trying to build something up, and that's assuming he's even interested in coaching again at all.
Wait, couldn't we use that as a selling point? Michigan seemingly has no interest in taking part in NIL either! /s
Its time for a new AD. Until then, he won't fire Juwan. For obvious reasons.