The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1194003
36 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2020 guessed," Mack said. "If you last in the [NBA] as a player for [19] years, you have high character because they weed the jerks out. You have to have a mind for the game because your body breaks down, as I know, even though I never played in the league. "You can see the respect level with his players. They play hard for him. They've got good talent, some guys that were role players a year ago have really stepped up and become even better players. So he's doing a lot right." HOWARD TAKES PATRIARCH MANTLE What he's doing, Howard explains, involves an overused but heartfelt designation by Michigan's new boss. When he talks about his program as "family," he's not talking about a few months in an adopted home. He's tapping into nearly three de- cades of association with Michigan basketball, from near and far. The tears on the podium upon his intro- duction at Crisler Center were real, swears anyone who knows him. He embraces the chance to inter- act with those in his charge, not just in sideline huddles and post-tourna- ment victory dances. The door to his office remains open for talks regard- ing basketball and life — a process that comes naturally, he assured. "What helps me is having four boys of different age groups [27, 20, 18, 16]," Howard noted. "I have a little practice with communicating with these young adults today. At times, I still think I'm a young adult. You saw me dancing. "At the end of the day, you have to have fun. I can be very serious. I've had serious moments with you guys [reporters], but I'm also the type of guy where I'm not taking life so seri- ous, either." He's very serious about the game of basketball, senior center Jon Teske pointed out, while keeping every- thing in perspective. "He always has a smile on his face," Teske said. "He's always so happy to be here. You can tell, that's from his heart. He really means it. The first day we met him, everything came from the heart. We all definitely believed that right away. "When you see him off the court, he's always happy, messing around. Once we get on the court, it's all busi- ness. That's just how our team is. We love to have fun off the court, but we know as soon as we walk in here and we get on the court, it's all business. "As soon as practice is over, we're all having fun again. You've got to have that business mentality, but at the same time, you've got to have fun. Otherwise, it will get old after a while." Senior point guard Zavier Simpson added: "He's a great coach, someone who is out there trying to get us bet- ter, push us to our limits, on our butts, but at the same time, making sure we're staying confident as well. "His door is always open — not just to me, but to everyone on the team. His door is open to talk to us about basketball, things outside of basket- ball, whatever it is. That's the type of coach he is." And an occasional victory dance? Keep 'em coming, Howard's players urge. "We love it," Simpson offered. "Just being able to have a coach like that, that's out there having fun, on and off the court, it's outstanding. We're ex- tremely grateful for him, thankful for him, and we just want to keep listen- ing to him, keep following his lead." His lead in Michigan's Big Ten- opening win over Iowa involved stay- ing calm in a relatively tight shootout. When a particular call went against the Wolverines, Howard teetered on the edge of an outburst toward the officiating crew. Instead, he marched down the bench area, grabbed a water bottle and took a strong swig to quench his ire. "I just need to cool off in that mo- ment," Howard said. "That's why I grabbed that water. Yes, I am competi- tive, I do care, and I show emotions as well. I just thought at that moment, I needed to be the most mentally stable individual at that time. "I could have easily lost it, and it wouldn't have benefited our team at all. As the leader of the group, I can't allow a call or a disagreement with a referee to get me rattled." Senior center Jon Teske was second on the team with an average of 13.4 points and first with a clip of 8.5 rebounds per game after the season's first 11 contests. He also chipped in 24 blocks and 14 steals, which both led the team. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL