Juwan Howard was recently relieved of his duties as the head coach of the Michigan basketball team after a disastrous season. The Wolverines had one of the worst years in program history as they won just eight games. The results on the court weren't there for Howard and Michigan, but there was also a lot of drama off the court. There were two instances in particular that got Howard in trouble, one with strength coach Jon Sanderson, and one after a game against Wisconsin back in 2022.
Long-time strength coach Jon Sanderson and Juwan Howard were involved in an incident back in December. Howard's son, Jace Howard, was apparently disrespecting a trainer. Juwan recently told his side of the story, and it certainly sounds different than when Sanderson recalled what happened.
“Yo, look, Jace, stop,” Juwan Howard said to Jace when the incident began, according to an article from The Athletic.
“I’m his father, right?” Howard said. “He knew that look and knew that voice, right? So he stopped immediately.”
That's when Sanderson got involved, according to Howard. He said that Sanderson yelled at Jace and told him that isn't how he should be speaking to a superior.
“Which is true,” Howard said. “I agree. But then he kept going. Jon said, ‘Jace, that’s bulls**t!’ You don’t talk to a superior that way, this is the sh— I’m talking about.’”
Sanderson apparently kept going, and Howard was telling him that he was handling it. He told Sanderson to chill out.
“I’m like three weeks into returning to the facility and have an incision on my chest,” Juwan Howard said. “Also, I’m not stupid. After the Wisconsin situation, I said I would never, ever, ever put myself in a situation like that again, where I put my hands on anyone, where it results in any type of physical friction, and second, that I would never put our players in an unsafe environment, and the last part, to never embarrass the entire university and my family. So am I gonna try to fight (Sanderson)? (He’s) 6-8 and strong as s**t.”
After that, things got ugly. Howard admitted that he cursed at Sanderson and told him to leave the gym. That's when, according to Howard, Sanderson tried to fight him, and other assistant coaches had to hold him back.
“So then, I say, ‘Forget it, guys, let him go, we’re about to start practice,’” Howard continued. “So we go to the other court in the practice facility, circle up like we always do, and went over the practice plan.”
Howard noted that he texted Jon Sanderson after that saying that he hoped they would meet soon. Sanderson did not reply, and he ended up leaving the program.
Juwan Howard did slap a Wisconsin assistant coach
Juwan Howard's first bad incident happened after a loss to Wisconsin in 2022. A scuffle broke out in the handshake line, and Howard ended up slapping an assistant coach on the Badgers staff, Joe Krabbenhoft.
“I will always regret how that situation happened, and I will always take full blame for it, because (I) can automatically say, ‘Oh, that wasn’t me,'” Howard said. “But, yes, it was. I could’ve controlled that and handled that situation better. That’s what I’ll always bang my head about. I had the opportunity to apologize publicly, but I also did so privately to the coaches at Wisconsin. We talked. And we moved on and got past the situation. But I can’t sit here and ask people to forget that that ever happened. I take full ownership of it.”
While it wasn't physical, Howard was also suspended from a Big Ten Tournament game in a season before that, and he yelled “I’ll f**king kill you,” to Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon.
After these incidents, it did change the way that people viewed Howard, and he noted that it has hurt him in numerous ways.
“It hurt me in a lot of ways,” Howard added. “I know that’s part of the ‘angry Black man’ perception that’s out there. It left people with a perception that anything I do — whether it’s get a technical, which, a lot of coaches get technicals, or the situation with Jon, where you hear his side of it and his lawyer’s side of it — anything I’m involved in, it’s Juwan who started it.”
Now, Juwan Howard is no longer the coach of the Michigan basketball team. The Wolverines have moved on to Dusty May, and a new era is beginning for the Wolverines.
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