'Not living up to our expectations': Juwan Howard out as Michigan basketball coach

The Juwan Howard era is officially over.

Michigan announced Friday that it has fired Howard as men's basketball head coach after five years and arguably the worst season in program history.

A national search to replace Howard — who had two years and roughly $7 million remaining on his contract but will receive a $3 million buyout — will begin immediately.

"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 UM and for all that he, and his legacy, will continue to mean to Michigan."

Howard ends his Michigan coaching career with an 82-67 record that included an Elite Eight, a Sweet 16 and one 20-win season. He also posted a 48-47 mark in Big Ten play with one conference title and one finish better than fifth place in the league standings.

It brings an abrupt end to a rocky ride that was Howard’s tenure. The Fab Five member was brought back to lead his alma mater in May 2019 and took over a program that was thriving under former coach John Beilein. But Howard couldn’t sustain the same level of success during his first time as a head coach at any level and things bottomed out with a historically awful eight-win campaign that ended in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.

During this past season, Michigan set program records for the most conference (17) and total (24) losses. It finished tied for the second-lowest win percentage (.250) in the program's 107 seasons. It placed dead last in the Big Ten standings for the first time since the 1966-67 season. It recorded single-digit wins for the first time since 1981-82. It ended the season on a nine-game losing streak, the longest skid since Michigan lost 10 straight in 2004-05.

On top of that, Michigan suffered its most lopsided loss in 17 years in a 32-point blowout at Purdue and had more losses by at least 15 points (nine) than wins. The Wolverines also finished with some of the program’s worst defensive marks in decades as they missed the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year.

That’s just the poor on-court results. That’s not even including all the off-the-court developments that occurred during Howard’s final season, which was the most bizarre and disappointing of them all.

There was the unusual coaching dynamic where he served as an assistant coach as he transitioned back to his full-time head coaching duties following September heart surgery. There was the non-physical confrontation he had with longtime strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson at an early December practice that sparked an internal review and led to Sanderson — who helped build up players’ bodies and the program for 15 years — no longer working with the program before resigning on March 1.

There was the decision to hand the coaching reins to assistant Phil Martelli in his return to Philadelphia — for a Big Ten game at the Palestra against Penn State at a point in time where Michigan was spiraling and had lost six of eight. Then there was the unheard-of academic suspension he placed on Dug McDaniel, which didn’t allow sophomore guard to travel for road games.

All that pales in comparison to a pair of incidents that lowlighted Howard’s tenure. The most egregious was the postgame altercation at Wisconsin in February 2022, when Howard took exception to a late timeout and got into a heated argument with Badgers head coach Greg Gard in the handshake line. Things escalated and Howard struck Wisconsin assistant Joe Krabbenhoft in the head. The Big Ten suspended Howard for the final five games of the 2021-22 regular season and fined him $40,000 for his actions.

The season before that, Howard was ejected in the second half of a Big Ten tournament quarterfinal when he got into a shouting match with then-Maryland coach Mark Turgeon during a media timeout. The two had to be separated and Howard, who received two technical fouls, was physically restrained by several staff members before he was escorted off the court.

The fiery exchange with Turgeon occurred during Howard’s second — and best — season at the helm. In Year 2, the Wolverines won the Big Ten regular-season title — via win percentage during the COVID-19-shortened season — earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history and fell a shot short of reaching the Final Four. Howard received a slew of coaching honors, highlighted by being selected as the 2021 Associated Press National Coach of the Year and Big Ten Coach of the Year.

Howard and the Wolverines never came close to replicating that success, as the program steadily declined from that point on. Over the next two seasons, Michigan finished 19-15 and 18-16, marking the first time since the early 2000s the program failed to win at least 20 games in back-to-back years.

Michigan salvaged the 2021-22 campaign — one where the Wolverines entered as a preseason top-10 team and the favorite to repeat as Big Ten champs — by making a Sweet 16 run. That was followed by another mediocre regular season and another middle-of-the-pack finish in the conference standings that led to Michigan missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015, with a team that featured an All-American and two top-15 NBA Draft picks.

Howard coached six players who became draft picks and was thought to be a strong recruiter, with prospects drawn to his NBA background and experience that included 19 years as a player and six years as an assistant coach with the Miami Heat. During his first three full recruiting cycles, he brought in top-15 classes in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and landed some of the program’s top-rated recruits in the modern rankings era. However, it didn’t lead to desired results.

Howard’s roster retention and construction was problematic — though the university’s admissions office was an obstacle at times — and his player development was lacking. His teams also continually struggled to close out games, with a 6-19 record in contests decided by six points or fewer or in overtime the past two seasons.

Howard was hired by Manuel and signed an extension in November 2021 that ran through the 2025-26 season, but he didn’t do a good enough job to see it through.

jhawkins@detroitnews.com

@jamesbhawkins