Michigan Basketball: 3 reasons Wolverines need Juwan Howard

Big name endorsements

It’s not just me who wants to see Juwan Howard back at ‘The House that Cazzie Built’. Juwan is getting endorsements by former teammates, coaches, and Michigan alumni.

First off, Chris Webber.

“All we need is to hire Juwan so we can take (Michigan State) out, It would be great for the whole university. It would bring everybody back together.”

Former Piston head coach Stan Van Gundy is next on the docket.

“Erik Spoelstra, all the people with the Heat, all the people who played there and are working there now, they speak really highly of him, And his reputation was certainly one of being not only a really good player but a great professional who was a leader and led in the right direction. It was all positive. I’ve actually never heard anything negative at all about Juwan.

“I would think from what I know of Erik and the way that he does things that Juwan’s pretty well-rounded, that he’s been asked to do a little bit of everything there with them from gameplans to working both ends of the floor offensively and defensively and being able to coach guys at a lot of different positions.”

Van Gundy acknowledged recruiting accounts for “75 percent or more” of how successful a college coach is going to be; however, Stan doesn’t think Howard will have any difficulty on the recruiting trail. Van Gundy went on to compare Howard’s situation to that of Penny Hardaway and Patrick Ewing.

“I think that you see Penny Hardaway in a short amount of time really make an impact in recruiting. Patrick had three guys on the All-Big East freshman team.

“I think while Juwan is not as big a name as Patrick for sure, he is around Michigan. And at the University of Michigan. High school coaches, AAU coaches, parents, they’re all still going to know very well the story of the Fab Five and everything else. I think all of that will help Juwan. And from everything I know, he’s got the personal characteristics to be very successful.”

Jalen Rose also weighed in on the matter.

“Now that there’s a vacant job in Ann Arbor, let’s do a blank canvas as to who should be the No. 1 candidate. To me, that should be a no brainer.”

“There’s a guy named Juwan Howard that’s from Chicago. He’s going to be able to help recruit that market. All-American in high school, came to the University of Michigan and was a member of the Fab Five. He was the first person to sign their Letter of Intent. In theory, he also helped recruit each one of us. He was always the adult in the room amongst us.”

Finally, the co-captain from the 1989 championship team and current assistant general manager for the Clippers, Mark Hughes.

“Obviously, I have a little personal preference, there’s a guy coaching (as an assistant) in Miami by the name of Juwan Howard.

“I don’t know, because he’s getting a lot of NBA sniffs at head coaching jobs as well. Don’t know if he’d have any interest. But just from me personally, being a Michigan fan as well as a Michigan man, I’d love to see Juwan back in Ann Arbor.”