The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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AUGUST 2019 THE WOLVERINE 35 ment — including Sweet 16s in 1997 and 2004, and the Elite Eight in 2004 — and six NIT appearances. The Hawks battled to a pair of runner-up efforts in the NIT, and fashioned more victories in the post- season (18) than under any other bas- ketball coach in the school's history. He calls Howard a "rising star" who won him over with his genuine- ness and passion for Michigan dur- ing the head coach's introductory press conference. Howard became so emotional at the podium, he had to turn away and gather himself before speaking. Martelli found himself right there with him. "This was the college job that he would take, and it's not a job for him," Martelli noted, on Mike Mis- sanelli's radio show on 97.5 The Fa- natic in Philly. "It's not a job for him. I spoke to him after his press confer- ence … and I know it was genuine. "But I said to him, 'Juwan, I know that was real. But the fact that you cried at your press conference, first of all, you grabbed me. I'm an emo- tional guy. But number two, you grabbed every mother of every re- cruit in this country. We can now go into every living room in this coun- try, because you're the real deal. You're not an NBA two-time cham- pion. You're not the guy that played in two Final Fours. You're not the guy that played 19 years in the NBA. You're a real human being.'" Martelli also insisted the opportu- nity itself is considerable, in the wake of his exit from Philadelphia. "This is spectacular," he said. "I had a lot of conversations with peo- ple over seven or eight weeks, and a CEO friend of mine told me: 'Don't rush. Don't settle. But when an op- portunity grabs your heart, you're going to know it.' "The first moment that I spoke to Juwan Howard … I went, this is real. This is the deal. If this comes to fruition, it's going to be a spectacular next chapter — everything about it. "I was pursuing several different options in basketball. But this one call changed the equation for me." Martelli indicated he was drawn to Howard's humility, the sense that he wanted and needed help in navigat- ing the early stages of becoming a college head coach. Martelli has done that job for so long, one of his options for a next step involved mentoring college coaches. He will be doing so in Ann Arbor, in a program that has experienced two NCAA championship games over the past seven years, and more than a half-century of significant suc- cess. Martelli has made it his mission to add to that success and to get How- ard off to a rocket-fueled start as a college basketball coach. "My goal, at this point in time, is to see him standing on the sideline, coaching in a national championship game," Martelli said. "Everything that I do will be dedicated to making that happen." HOWARD EISLEY Eisley will join Howard in relat- ing to the present Michigan players wanting to take the next step after college. Following a long NBA play- ing career, he worked as a player development assistant in the Los Angeles Clippers organization. He then moved on to become an assis- tant coach with the Washington Wiz- ards from 2014-16 and the New York Knicks from 2016-19. Eisley and Howard played a com- bined 31 seasons in the league, Eis- ley getting in a dozen seasons at eight different locations. A four-year starter at Boston College, he helped the Eagles to an East Regional Final in the 1994 NCAA Tournament. Rose's former teammate indicated in a U-M release his gratefulness in getting the opportunity at Michigan. "First of all, I want to thank Juwan and everyone at Michigan for having the confidence in me to make me part of this talented staff," Eisley said. "Words cannot express how excited I am to be working with such great people at a first-class university. "I am ready to hit the ground run- ning and look forward to doing ev- erything I can to help our program succeed at the highest levels." Howard Eisley (right) played 12 seasons in the NBA and spent the past nine years working in the league, rising from player development assistant to assistant coach. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY