The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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66 THE WOLVERINE ❱ APRIL 2024 BY CHRIS BALAS J uwan Howard's homecom- ing as Michigan basketball coach was an emotional one, complete with a hero's welcome. So many responded with a "yes" for his initial press conference that it was moved to the Crisler Arena floor, where many U-M greats were on hand to welcome him home. Even those of us who were skeptical of the hire — simply because Howard had no experi- ence running his own program to that point — couldn't help but feel it when he shed a tear upon his introduction. Some of us were in school when he signed his letter of intent as one of Steve Fisher's first huge recruits, the Pied Piper of the Fab Five, before finding out the same day his grandmother who raised him passed away. We were there when he led the Wolverines to a huge win over Ohio State to get the Wolverines to the Final Four in 1992, doing the "cabbage patch dance" in front of our maize and blue section in complete bliss, and we shed a tear like he and Fisher did when he an- nounced for the NBA after three years at Michigan. The sad irony wasn't lost on us when he underwent heart surgery before this season for a serious condition. Of all the players who have worn the uniform before and after him, he seemed to have as good and big a heart as any of them. But the coaching profession is a harsh one, and it doesn't play favorites. You can either do the job or you can't, and after five years and an 8-24 record this season, it was clearly time for a change. It wasn't just bad — it was historically terrible — and the culture former head coach John Beilein had built was com- pletely fractured. Accountability seemed to be lacking, and what should have been the joy of Howard's life in coaching his sons (Jett and Jace) seemed, frankly, to be part of his undoing. Yet, however he felt about the end, Howard went out with kind words for the university that gave him a chance. "I want to give a special shout out to all players I coached. You guys were and will always be my EVERYTHING!" Howard said in his goodbye statement. "Michigan will always be a significant part of my legacy and I will be a signifi- cant part of theirs." He signed off with "Michigan Man Forever," and he is and will be. We hope to see him back in Ann Arbor in the fu- ture supportive of the next coach, along with those who played alongside him. The programs with sustained success over the years embrace everyone, not just factions. Michigan State basketball (unfortunately, as a rival) does that as well as anyone, sometimes to a fault. That, though, is going to take some work. Former Fab Fiver Jalen Rose, for example, seemed to try to drive a wedge between the Beilein era and the Fab Five before Howard was even hired, and he only seemed all-in on the program when his friend was involved. "The one thing [Beilein] did not do, and it was a different style of recruiting, is recruit McDonald's All-Americans," Rose said on his former ESPN show "Get Up." "In his entire tenure there, we had a grand total of zero get recruited to the University of Michigan. I think Juwan Howard is the guy that could bring that back." He added it would help "bury the hatchet" with the u n ive rs i ty e m b ra c i n g t h e history of the Fab Five, and even said at different times Howard could help "rebuild" a program that had achieved unprecedented success under Beilein. In truth, Beilein had gone out of his way to invite Rose and all the former greats back, including the Fab Five, Cazzie Russell and Rudy Tomja- novich. They even organized a day celebrating Rose during a game in the second year of Beilein's tenure, something Rose didn't even acknowl- edge on the CBS broadcast of the Michi- gan–Ohio State game this year. Instead, he credited athletics direc- tor Warde "Emmanuel" (sic) and How- ard for getting them back, disregarding the fact that Chris Webber had ignored Beilein's invitations for years. Michigan basketball isn't supposed to be about "us, and then everyone else." The 1989 National Champions stake claim as the greatest team to wear the uniform, and they certainly don't act that way. It stands to reason nobody else should, either. Now more than ever, in this time of transition, they need "all hands on deck," as Howard often used to say about his team. It will be interesting to see who an- swers the call. ❏ The Michigan men's basketball program's future success will depend on how well all its stakeholders unite behind whoever is selected as the new head coach. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN Chris Balas has been with The Wolverine since 1997. Contact him at cbalas @thewolverine.com and follow him on X (Twitter) @Balas _ Wolverine. INSIDE MICHIGAN ❱ CHRIS BALAS U-M Hoops Family Needs To Unite