Michigan basketball: Worst head coach hires in program history
By Josh Yourish
We’re getting further and further removed from Juwan Howard leading the Michigan basketball program to a Big Ten title and the Elite Eight in 2021, with more and more incidents stacking up for the coach. It was reported that Howard got into an altercation with the team’s strength coach, Jon Sanderson, in the days leading up to Michigan’s win over Iowa.
It doesn’t look like this will be the final nail in the coffin for Howard’s tenure at Michigan, but sooner or later, the school could be forced to move on from the legendary member of the Fab Five.
Howard’s time back in Ann Arbor hasn’t been perfect, but with a Big Ten title and a trip to the Elite Eight on his resume, he’s certainly not going to end up on this list of the worst head coaching hires in program history.
However, a few more bad seasons or another “incident” and he could be. The program is not trending in the right direction, and Michigan could be looking for a new head coach soon, but this could serve as a reminder that the grass isn’t always greener.
A week before Michigan began practice for the 1997-98 season, Steve Fisher was fired as news of illegal payments made to players surfaced. So, Ellerbe was hired away from Loyola to replace Fisher, and Michigan hoped that he could build Fisher’s success. That was not the case.
In 2002, Michigan self-imposed sanctions, and as part of that, all of Ellerbe’s wins in his first two seasons were vacated, even though Ellerbe was cleared of any wrongdoing. Ellerbe led Michigan to the 1998 NCAA tournament with a 25-9 record. It was his only tournament appearance over his four-year tenure and his team lost in the second round as a No. 3 seed.
Ellerbe inherited a very difficult situation, but he didn’t rise to the occasion. He finished with a record of 62-60, but 25 of those wins came in Year 1. After that season, he only managed to go 37-51.
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