After heart surgery in the offseason and a recent altercation with strength coach Jon Sanderson, it looked like Juwan Howard might not coach another game for the Michigan basketball team. Howard had been back on the bench recently for the Wolverines as he has been recovering from his surgery, but his recent incident with Sanderson was not good. Many people thought that Howard might be fired and Michigan would be without a head coach, but he is set to return to his full head coaching duties on Saturday when the Wolverines take on Eastern Michigan basketball.
Phil Martelli has been the acting head coach through the first 1o games of the season for Michigan basketball. His last game with those duties was last weekend against Iowa. That was the first time that the Wolverines played since the incident between Juwan Howard and Jon Sanderson, and Sanderson didn't make the trip to the game. Things didn't look good for Howard, but athletic director Warde Manuel issued a statement on Friday saying that no disciplinary action would be taken.
“Juwan Howard will return to the Michigan bench Saturday (Dec. 16) against Eastern Michigan in his total capacity as head coach,” The statement read. “Coach Howard, his doctors and our medical experts remain aligned in taking this next step as he recovers from a September heart procedure. We greatly appreciate associate head coach Phil Martelli’s guidance of our program on an interim basis to start the season. I want to personally thank Phil for what he has done in the past few months to lead the program. We will continue to benefit from his wisdom moving forward. The return of our usual coaching structure comes after a review of an incident involving several individuals during a team practice last week. Based on a thorough internal review, nothing was found to warrant disciplinary action for anyone involved. As such, we will move forward with a focus on our team and our season.”
While Howard is back to his normal duties, his seat is still hot. Former Michigan head coach John Beilein had built a consistently good program in Ann Arbor, and after the 2020-21 season, things haven't gone well for the Wolverines. Michigan squeaked into the tournament in 2022 as an 11 seed and made the sweet 16, which erased the memory of the regular season struggles. Michigan then failed to make the tournament last year, and that is not acceptable in Ann Arbor.
The Wolverines have not looked good as they are 5-5 to start the year, and they were upset at home by Long Beach State. Howard has a lot of work to do to get this season heading in the right direction.
There will be a lot to look out for on Saturday when the Wolverines take on Eastern Michigan. How will the fans react to Howard's return? Will Sanderson be back with the team? It's going to be an interesting afternoon in Ann Arbor.
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