Michigan Basketball: 3 reasons why Ed Cooley is a serious candidate

Cooley would be invested for the long haul

For what it’s worth, Cooley’s career path is more similar to John Beilein’s than probably anyone else on the list. He turned around two programs and built them into winners, something Beilein did at each of his stops too.

Cooley is 49 years old and if Michigan basketball could get him to leave Providence, which isn’t a given, there is a good chance he would be the coach for the next decade or so, just like with Beilein, as long as he won enough games.

When it comes to college basketball, there aren’t many jobs better than Michigan. There are some to be sure, but Michigan is an elite job and as he has shown at Providence, Cooley is a loyal guy.

If he got the job, you could see him staying in Ann Arbor for a long time. He doesn’t strike me as an NBA coach and if he was ever going to go to the league, it would come after years of success at Michigan.

Howard, on the other hand, could jump ship after 4-5 years. No doubt he wants to be a head coach in the NBA someday and while Michigan basketball will be a great start to his career, it’s probably not where Juwan wants to finish.

Howard’s ceiling is really high and if he could start landing 5-star guys, maybe the Wolverines could take that next step and win a national title. But success under Howard will only last so long as he would undoubtedly leave for the NBA, whereas Cooley would likely be content chasing titles in Ann Arbor for the rest of his coaching career.