2019 coaching search

Free concert thing. Ann Arborites, Treeverb is happening tomorrow at First and Huron, just across the street from the MLive building and the world famous Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, where the podcasts originate.

Food trucks will be on site, along with an option to purchase adult beverages. More information at their website.

Exit DeAndre. Saddi Washington will be the only survivor amongst Michigan's assistants:

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. My time here at the University of Michigan was nothing short of a dream. pic.twitter.com/91Y8FiJ53O

— DeAndre Haynes (@CoachDreHaynes) May 30, 2019

Mike Miller, who was discussed a couple days ago, Howard Eisley, and former St Joe's coach Phil Martelli are the names that have been floated for the two open spots. (Yaklich's departure for Texas is now official.)

Note that the report that Martelli has a firm offer came from a Philadelphia source, not Michigan. Brendan Quinn disputed that, citing sources on both sides.

[After THE JUMP: potential additions]

Things discussed:

• Craig survived a session in the studio with Terry Mills and Craig’s Teske Opinion.
• Hard to get the great guys these days: Jay Wright is never leaving Nova, Brad Stevens, etc.
• Brian: Three guys over the Yaklich line.
• Cooley: Craig steals the Bunk Moreland reference from MGoBlog
• Juwan: A guy. Works his ass off, people all love him, developed a couple of bigs.
• Because of one and done Juwan has been coaching guys younger than Teske already.
• Howard is a lower floor than Beilein’s assistants? Higher ceiling?
• Just seven(!) black coaches in the major conferences.
• Recruiting: he knows AAU guys. 5-stars are already showing pics of themselves online with Juwan.
• Jalen Wilson: lost probably unless we retain Yaklich. Odds better they keep Bajema.
• Reasonable expectations for this year: same if Beilein lost all these guys.
• Playing DDJ: Beilein didn’t want to upset the run. John B did listen to our calls to play Castleton.
• Had Johns in the wrong position. He should be really happy about this hire.
• Elements of what Michigan’s been doing in the Heat’s system. Spoelstra connection, they got Dunc too!
• Assistant coaches: coaches usually get at least a guy. Craig wants everyone retained.
• Get them an analyst group!
• Saddi wasn’t originally a big man coach but Beilein thought he could be.
• Nobody at Michigan State could coach at Michigan. Nobody.
• Zeb Jackson is going to prep school in Florida now. 2020 is the year we see if Juwan can croot.
• Warde: we’ll see with the assistants but he did a good job.

You can catch the entire episode on Michigan Insider's podcast stream on Podbean.

Segment two is here. Segment three is here.

THE USUAL LINKS

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• What's with the theme music?

There’s one coach in college basketball who’s got an endorsement from LeBron James

Michigan has replaced John Beilein.

Juwan Howard has agreed to a 5-year deal to become the Michigan head coach, source told @Stadium.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) May 22, 2019

I'm neither over the moon or ready to visit Ann Arbor Torch and Pitchfork. My initial list of coaching candidates had three guys above the Yak line. Billy Donovan apparently wasn't interested; Steve Prohm inexplicably never came up; Juwan Howard is the guy.

I preferred Howard to the motley crew of available names below the line because they were either barely more proven than Howard (LaVall Jordan), had long track records that looked like middling coaches at middling schools (Porter Moser, Ed Cooley), or were completely ridiculous for any number of reasons (Ed McKillop! Chris Collins!). Yeah, Juwan Howard's a risk. Anyone Michigan hired was a risk. Three and a half years into John Beilein's tenure he was 1-6 in conference and everyone wanted to fire him. A piano is going to hit someone today. Life is chaos.

And while Juwan Howard is a risk, he also comes with upside that the other candidates palpably lack. Think this moves the needle with recruits?

Talk to me nice. Say it is so!!!? My guy deserves this opportunity. This will only be right https://t.co/TWWH4UuiTZ

— DWade (@DwyaneWade) May 22, 2019

Man WHAT!!!!?? Absolutely the right choice and i hope it becomes a done deal ASAP!! One of my favorite people I’ve ever met at the age of 16 and been around since then. https://t.co/hdmF60odnm

— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 22, 2019

Survey says: yes. If you thought Beilein was a popular choice for kids of NBA players you haven't seen anything yet.

Howard isn't just a Michigan alum from the most famous recruiting class ever. He's not just a guy who spent 19 years in the NBA and then immediately moved to the lead assistant position on one of the best organizations in the league. He's also the guy who got his Michigan degree by doing the work in hotel rooms during his rookie year. He's also the guy who Lebron James and Dwyane Wade stan for on twitter.

He's not a slam dunk. He's also not a shot in the dark.

Xs and Os Proficiency

[Bryan Fuller]

If Howard was a football coach he'd be the defensive coordinator of a team led by Nick Saban, Charlie Strong, or Will Muschamp. He is a defensive lead assistant under a defensive head coach (who is under Pat friggin' Riley). The defense is good, but how much of that is the assistant's doing and how much is the head coach? For the record, Heat defensive efficiency marks over the past six years: 15, 20, 7, 5, 8, 7. The NBA is a lot flatter than college basketball so maintaining a spot in the top quarter of the league four years running is impressive.

Howard had at least something to do with that:

“He’s probably our biggest defensive coach.” Josh Richardson told Five Reasons Sports recently. “Any defensive adjustments that need to be made, he’ll normally pick those out and tell us about it. He’s our emotional coach. The coach that will get us going, get us back in the ball game, get us excited.” …

“Coach Juwan helped me out a lot personally, because coming here I had never played the four,” Jones Jr. told Five Reasons Sports. “Switching to the four, and having to learn the pick and roll coverages with my man as the screener, he helped me fast track that a whole lot. Sitting down watching film with him, Bam, Hassan and KO. That helped me out a lot.” …

“He’s obviously a really important voice for us.” Kelly Olynyk told Five Reasons Sports. “…Just trying to be there offensively and a lot of times defensively. Especially for the bigs, how to guard certain actions, pick and rolls. A constant reminder of what you’re doing and how to do it better.”

Howard is old-ass Jon Teske. This is a good thing. Jon Teske would be an amazing coach. That surge is correlated with Howard getting Hassan Whiteside and then Bam Adebayo up to speed.

Howard has had a clear positive impact on offense with his individual player development of Miami's bigs. Other than that, dunno. His approach is a mystery. Given the way the NBA has gone literally any guy up for head jobs is going to be pretty close to John Beilein, at least as far as emphasizing threes and shots at the rim. I have one dollar that says that Michigan feeds the post more, but I would have said that no matter who Michigan hired.

One encouraging thing here is that Howard zipped past a longer-tenured assistant…

The fact Howard rose to the rank of top assistant so quickly on a staff that also includes longtime member Dan Craig speaks volumes about his Xs and Os.

…and won the confidence of Spoelstra even before he put on a suit:

"His last two years of playing," Spoelstra said, "I really thought that Juwan had a lot of qualities that showed he could be a very successful coach. He was a leader in the locker room. He understood the game on a deeper level. He had a great work ethic. Those things translate very well to this profession."

The Heat organization is no joke, and Howard jumped the line. He has the profile of a rapid riser.

Went to the Celtics game last night and sat 10 feet behind Danny Ainge, but he left at halftime before I could think of something witty about Chipotle to yell at him. Also Juwan Howard has to be the most actively involved assistant coach I've ever seen

— Tim Lawrence (@TimLawrence10) January 22, 2019

[After THE JUMP: recruiting, development, and potential catches]