Juwan Howard Is Performing At Michigan How Jim Harbaugh Was Expected To
Michigan head coach Juwan Howard once famously said that U-M was going to "shock the world," and that's what he's embarking on doing in Ann Arbor for a second time.
When 2021 Montverde (Fla.) Academy five-star forward Caleb Houstan committed to Michigan two weeks ago, the move sent shockwaves through the college basketball world, letting other blue chip programs know that the Wolverines were a legitimate recruiting contender. Howard was a big reason for that pledge after he built a relationship with Houstan, a player who even worked out at Crisler as a youngster.
However, Howard has kept his foot on the gas pedal and just pulled in a commitment from another five-star recruit with Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy big man Moussa Diabate earlier today.
With Diabate and Houstan in the fold, Michigan currently has the No. 1 recruiting class in the country according to Rivals.com, and the early signing period for basketball is quickly approaching.
While Michigan's ability to land those two exceptional prospects is a positive development from a basketball standpoint, it is emblematic of something more important that Coach Howard has brought back to the program. In recruiting, the X's and O's of each program surely play an important role in the decision making process, but believe it or not, sometimes prospects are more attracted to the feeling and the ambiance of a program.
Righter after Michigan landed the Fab Five as its 1991 class, Ann Arbor was viewed as a college basketball hotspot, especially after winning a National Championship two years prior. Not only did Juwan Howard see that, but he was a part of it. Now, Howard is doing his best to show current recruits what he saw in the school and the program back then.
Over the last 10 years, no Big Ten school has had more NBA Draft picks than Michigan at 12. The next closest is Michigan State with 67% of that total over the same timespan. So for top 20 overall recruits like Houstan and Diabate, Howard can confidently show them that the Wolverines will properly develop players.
Take young Franz Wagner for example. He is a 6-9 wing player with a good outside jumper, and he is projected as an early second round pick by ESPN after his subsequent sophomore season later this year. Howard is showing that he can take a raw prospect, mold their game without altering their identity and turn them into an NBA Draft pick in a matter of months. Imagine what he and his staff could do with players that have elite talent, such as Houstan and Diabate?
Now, major winning is yet to occur on the hardwood under Howard, but the sample size is very small. For what was a young team last year, U-M finished 19-13 on the year with a .500 record in conference. This year, Michigan is expected to take a step forward with a now-healthy Isaiah Livers and another offseason under Wagner's belt.
Unfortunately, the same upward trajectory does not extend over to Michigan's football program. After the Wolverines followed up a loss to Michigan State, the worst of the Jim Harbaugh tenure, with another potentially even worse loss to Indiana, little confidence remains that Harbaugh is the right guy for the job.
Over the last five-plus years, rumors of Harbaugh's job uncertainty have swirled with varying degrees of truth to said rumors but never as fervently as today. During Harbaugh's weekly Monday press conference, the U-M head football coach declined to answer how long he would like to remain at Michigan for. That is a bad and uninspiring look for a man who was lambasted among the national media over the past week and a half.
It is also a move that does the opposite of what Coach Howard is creating. While Howard is landing program-topping recruits, Harbaugh is hoping to hold onto commits from his currently No. 7 class in the nation. Two players have already decommitted from U-M over the past several months, and more may be on the way if Harbaugh cannot quickly right the ship.
Coaches cannot always control what individual high school recruits do. Kids have more on their plate than ever and very likely more influences in their ear than ever before. What a coach can control is how he carries himself, how he leads his program and the atmosphere that he contributes to.
Right now, Coach Howard is acing that test, and Coach Harbaugh is on the verge of flunking out.
