Fans Split On Howard's Future At Michigan
It was expected that year four of Juwan Howard's coaching career would be another step forward for the Michigan Basketball program. Instead of taking a step forward, the season has resulted in one of the most frustrating seasons in recent memory.
After beginning the year with a solid 5-1 record, the Wolverines proceeded to lose six of the next ten contests - including a brutal 63-61 loss to Central Michigan in Ann Arbor. As the season progressed, it quickly became apparent that the Wolverines had some serious issues in several areas, but most of the critics stopped short of believing that Michigan would miss the NCAA tournament altogether.
While nothing is official yet, the NCAA tournament selection show will take place this evening and the Wolverines (17-15 overall, 11-9 in the Big Ten) will be left on the outside looking in for the first time in the Howard era.
Following Michigan's second round loss to Rutgers last week in the Big Ten tournament, Howard indicated that his team wants to continue to play - even if it means competing in the NIT.
“Yes, they want to continue to keep playing,” Howard said Thursday. “I want to see them playing, and I want to be out there coaching them in the postseason. We’ll go back home, we’ll talk about what’s the plan for the future and we’ll go from there.”
While the Wolverines will discuss what the future holds in the coming days, fans have spent several days debating whether or not Howard is the right man for the job moving forward. Much like what we saw with Jim Harbaugh following his fourth season as head coach, the fan base seems divided on whether or not the program is in good hands with Howard at the helm.
In an online poll of over 2,000 votes, 51 percent of Michigan fans indicated that Juwan Howard isn't even on the hotseat at this point. On the flipside, 39 percent indicated that they believe Howard is certainly on the hot seat, while 10 percent believe it is already time to move on.
There's no question that much of the criticism aimed at Howard is warranted at this point, but I'm not ready to put him on the hot seat just yet. Yes, the 2022-23 season was painful, but we've also watched this program make deep tournament runs and capture a conference championship with Howard leading the way. Regardless of where you stand when it comes to his future at Michigan, it's clear that the program needs to show drastic improvement next year.
