Juwan has been fired,
https://x.com/byazuniga/status/1768698885134819379?s=61
A sad, necessary day.
We'll always have this
Beware of the Ides of March
Et tu, Warde?
Or, as I once heard it called, "Shiv that Mofo Day."
Even tu, Brutus?
disappointed for Howard, but tough to go back after this season.
gotta get a search committee going and nail this hire down
Thanks for trying coach, just didnt work out.
Doesnt take away from his accomplishments as a player.
He has $100 million and endless NBA relationships to fall back on. I think he’ll be okay.
Super disappointed things went this way. A bit late, but this is absolutely the right move. Hopefully Warde can snag someone good as a replacement.
The press release, for posterity:
https://mgoblue.com/news/2024/3/15/mens-basketball-michigan-announces-leadership-change-in-mens-basketball
Thank you for posting.
"After a comprehensive review of the program, I have decided that Juwan will not return as our men's basketball coach," athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement. "Juwan is among the greatest Wolverines to ever be associated with our basketball program. I know how much it meant, to not only Juwan, but to all of us for him to return here to lead this program. Despite his love of his alma mater and the positive experience that our student-athletes had under his leadership, it was clear to me that the program was not living up to our expectations and not trending in the right direction. I am thankful for Juwan's dedication, passion and commitment to U-M and for all that he, and his legacy, will continue to mean to Michigan."
This is not a day to celebrate. We all wanted it to work out. It just didn’t.
Now let’s go find ourselves a good coach.
Onward and upward. Let's bring in an experience coach with a track record of success.
FINALLY
Bummer to lose a UM legend like that but it was necessary. I miss you Beilein.
I’ll be damned. He did pull the trigger.
A sad day, but it was necessary.
I'm never happy to see it not work out with a coach, but this is the right thing for the program and the university. Let's get things back on track. Go Blue!
Didn’t think Warde had the cajones to do it.
May have done it anyway. But must have been so much pressure to do so to protect his own job.
Regents, donors (who could withhold funds), back hallway talk, must have all been saying the same as us. Nobody wants it. But necessary.
agree. That is the only thing that moves his needle. Inaction is his action
Official from UMich basketball:
BREAKING NEWS: U-M Director of Athletics Warde Manuel has announced that a leadership change would be made in basketball with Juwan Howard not returning next season.
— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) March 15, 2024
Release | https://t.co/N2QU7adNM3#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/yxDIAgkgfk
I'll always love Juwan, and I hope we can find a really good college coach
Count me in the sad-but-necessary camp. I so wanted this to work. It seemed like it was working... until it wasn't. Good that this happened now. One would hope that we have someone lined up already, and that should be the expectation, but I am not optimistic.
I mean, I don't think anyone is "happy" about the way things turned out. We all wanted Juwan to be wildly successful. Unfortunately that's not what happened.
"It seemed like it was working... until it wasn't."
This. Regrettably necessary, for reasons that I suspect probably have yet to come out (if they ever do). It's been disappointing to me to see so many on the MGoBoard and on the blog itself concluding simply that Howard is such a bad coach that he never should've been hired. When I look at the blog archives, what I see is a narrative that should read that he was in fact a very good coach who somehow became a not-good coach. This blog rated him as B1G coach of the year in '20-21, and called his contract extension (the one that he presumably will have to be bought out of) "good news."
He came out of the gates at the top of his game. He needed to do what Beilein did and start over with new assistants this time last year. Find a defensive guru and some energized up and comers with recruiting chops. I am 100% sure Warde is making this decision only because it could put his career in jeopardy when next year flops.
The administration didn't help this roster one bit. Moving forward, what will they do to even the playing field because this isn't all on Juwan.
Probably nothing. The standards are the standards.
I hate this take. Like the above, standards have been the same, so adapt your recruiting to that
We either need to invest in NIL or bring someone in who has shown they can achieve more with less. Ideally, we do both, but the latter seems more realistic
As much as things could need to change, let's not cheapen the academic rigor that exists at Michigan. Juwan and every other coach at the university knows that the standard is different. Call it a handicap, but if you know it going into the job it is merely a coedition of employment. Why would you waste time recruiting kids that are questionable on making the cut. Students coming from different countries are not the same as coming from other schools where academic standards are much less.
You'd think there'd be someone in the athletic dept to inform the coaches that it's probably not worth pursuing an undergrad upperclassman.
The admissions issues have nothing to do with academic rigor. It’s the credits they don’t accept. Here’s Myles Hinton talking about Michigan not accepting a bunch of his Stanford credits.
I get that Stanford is a small school in California, but I’ve heard this rumor that they have a pretty selective admissions process in their own right.
If we dropped our standards to UNC/Duke levels would anyone know or even care? Seriously we are talking about putting something in place that nobody here would ever know about, with the exception of not losing out on transfers. Do what you must to be competitive with other solid academic schools but dont create your own fucking tier.
Admissions has nothing to do with accepting credits.
That is every departments individual decision and doesn't involve admissions at all.
It's also something the AD or the University president have no power to change.
I have supported Juwan through many of the negative comments, but the administration didn't have anything to do with the team's horrible rebounding, turnovers, and defensive mistakes.
Michigan is going to have to win with people who can get into Michigan. In basketball, that should be enough to remain competitive in the top 25. Now NIL, that is a different story, and the transformational story which works in football doesn't translate to basketball. Michigan needs to get that figured out and hopefully the recent changes there are a sign they are.
Good move by Warde. Still old enough to believe that, short of morally questionable behavior, firing a coach should occur after the season.
Today is a sad day ... for the Warde haters.
Let's see how he handles the next hire before we praise the guy too much. But I'll admit to being pleasantly surprised at Warde this afternoon.
If Warde signs on for another 8-20 season his ass would be on the line. This is a saving his own ass decision.
Leave no stone unturned.
Quicker than I thought.
I really wanted him to succeed, but it’s obvious this thing wasn’t getting any better.
I wonder who the candidates are
I hate that it had to happen. I soooooooo wanted it to work
Now do Warde
Is it too late to get Sanderson back? 👀
That did not go well.
I have a strong suspicion that drama will also follow.