Michigan AD: Juwan Howard cleared to return as Michigan's head coach

Juwan Howard is not in trouble and is returning to his role as Michigan’s head coach.

Athletic director Warde Manuel made that announcement on Friday night, noting Howard has been cleared both medically and after an investigation into a recent incident he had.

Howard had not resumed his full-time duties since undergoing heart surgery three months ago. Earlier this week, a program source confirmed a verbal confrontation between Howard and longtime strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson occurred at a practice last week.

Manuel addressed both of those situations in his statement.

“Juwan Howard will return to the Michigan bench Saturday against Eastern Michigan in his total capacity as head coach,” Manuel said. “Coach Howard, his doctors and our medical experts remain aligned in taking this next step as he recovers from a September heart procedure.

“The return of our usual coaching structure comes after a review of an incident involving several individuals during a team practice last week. Based on a thorough internal review, nothing was found to warrant disciplinary action for anyone involved. As such, we will move forward with a focus on our team and our season.”

Howard’s scheduled heart procedure on Sept. 15 resected an aortic aneurysm and repaired the aortic valve. It came with a projected six- to 12-week recovery timeline. This week marks 13 weeks.

Howard has spent much of the season transitioning back to a coaching role. He first returned to the bench during the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas last month. The past three games, he’s sat on the sideline as an assistant coach while Phil Martelli has served as interim head coach.

Martelli noted Howard has been "very active" in practices as of late, something that was echoed by grad transfer forward Olivier Nkamhoua.

"Every day that he feels better and his rehab is better, he takes a bigger role," Nkamhoua said after Sunday's win at Iowa. "He's always been involved with the coaches, talking to the coaches. But, yes, every day his role and involvement on court with us grows as his health does. His health is still No. 1. As his health gets better, he's more with us."

When Michigan (5-5, 1-1 Big Ten) beat Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena this past weekend, the Wolverines did so with Martelli leading the way and with Howard on the bench.

Sanderson, however, wasn’t in the building and didn’t travel with the team like he normally does for road games. Following the altercation with Howard at practice, Sanderson reportedly filed a complaint to human resources.

Martelli spoke to the media a few hours before Manuel’s statement was released, declining to say much regarding the situation involving Howard and Sanderson and their statuses.

“Everything is in Warde’s hands,” Martelli said.

On Friday night, Manuel made his decision. Now, the expectation is everyone on the coaching staff will be back in their usual roles, with Saddi Washington focusing on the defense, Howard Eisley calling the offense, Martelli serving as the lead assistant and Howard running the show.

“We greatly appreciate associate head coach Phil Martelli’s guidance of our program on an interim basis to start the season,” Manuel said. “I want to personally thank Phil for what he has done in the past few months to lead the program. We will continue to benefit from his wisdom moving forward.”

jhawkins@detroitnews.com

@jamesbhawkins