Video: Juwan Howard Talks Special Moment With David DeJulius

Juwan Howard has endeared himself to his players and the media and new examples of that development seem to pop up week after week.

Last Saturday, after Michigan defeated Michigan State 77-68, Big Ten Network photographer Samii Stoloff captured a special moment between sophomore guard David DeJulius and head coach Juwan Howard. Her image started to circulate on Twitter and was eventually liked more than 2,000 times. 

The photo and moment got lost in the shuffle a bit because of U-M's big win over the Spartans and because of the upcoming game against Northwestern, but Josh Henschke of 247Sports asked Howard about the moment last Saturday and, as usual, Howard absolutely hit a home run with his answer. 

Brown's Breakdown

Over the course of the season I've praised Juwan Howard several times for how he handles himself during press conferences. He's already killing it on the recruiting trail and I explained why I think that's the case and why he isn't going to slow down in that regard. I also asked Howard about his team's character and he spoke about his guys for nearly two minutes.

His genuine approach and kind gestures aren't limited to his players either. Earlier this year, Ashley Bastock of The Toledo Blade commented on Howard's granola bar choice and he ended up bringing her one during the next press conference. He had a long discussion with Daniel Dash of The Michigan Daily about his sandwich choice earlier in the day and even more recently, he pretended to post up Dash as they exited the media room; Dash stands 6-8, which Howard clearly gets a kick out of. After dealing with some health issues that caused him to miss some work, Henschke eventually returned and Howard took notice. Unprompted, the head coach quickly welcomed Henschke back to work and said that he was glad to see him back and healthy. Finally, at the end of another presser, Howard congratulated my obviously-pregnant wife and called her beautiful as he walked by. These types of things are not typical from a big time head coach.

If he's doing stuff like this with "strangers" he only sees for 15-20 minutes a couple of times a week, just imagine how he is with his players, coaches and recruits and their families. The picture above captures it all perfectly. The shot itself is great, but what it represents is even greater. It represents a players' coach who loves Michigan and who will do everything in his power to make sure that other student athletes love Michigan too.

What about Howard has stood out to you away from the court? How good can he be with his recruiting skills? Comment below!!!