Michigan Basketball: Grading Juwan Howard’s assistant coaches

Michigan basketball head coach Juwan Howard has finalized his staff and here is a breakdown and our letter grades for each assistant coach.

When Juwan Howard started getting mentioned as a candidate to be the head coach of Michigan basketball, his lack of experience was the first charge levied against him.

It is the biggest question mark on what is otherwise an impressive resume. Howard has done just about everything on a basketball court. He has been an elite high school, college and NBA player. He’s reached the Final Four, won the NBA Finals and been a McDonald’s All-American.

He’s also invested years in coaching and during the process, he has worked with some of the best to ever do it such as LeBron James and Dwayne Wade.

After his playing days, Howard spent six seasons as an assistant for the Miami Heat. Working under Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra certainly added to his basketball knowledge but as we all know, there really is no substitute for experience.

And since Howard doesn’t have any in college, he was going to need to find experienced staff. While building the right coaching staff is always important, when it came to Howard and Michigan basketball, it was essential.

Going from the Heat to the Wolverines, as the head coach, is a huge transition and this program isn’t rebuilding anymore. It’s considered elite and it’s up to Howard to keep it there. Hiring guys like Phil Martelli, Saddi Washington and Howard Eisley will help.

The deals with Washington and Martelli appear set in stone, while Eisley’s should be done soon. So, here is a breakdown of each hire as we grade Juwan Howard’s coaching staff.