The latest on Michigan Basketball head coach Juwan Howard

We have learned new information about the incident regarding Michigan basketball head coach Juwan Howard and strength coach Jon Sanderson last week.

There were reports on Sunday of a physical altercation between the two parties last week, but those reports proved to be inaccurate.

John Goodman, a college hoops insider, revealed what sources told him about the incident (via On3):

“They were walking onto the court right before practice when this happened. Juwan Howard heard this and he obviously got pissed off, and there were no punches thrown … I was told they were toe to toe, chest to chest, right up in each other, and had to be restrained. Bunch of the players saw this … Sanders took some time away from the program, he did not go to the game at Iowa. Juwan Howard was still at the game in his normal seat of last few weeks, which was the first assistant chair, basically"… 

“And I was also told that Juwan never addressed the situation with the players or anything or hadn’t as of 24 hours ago. Maybe that’s changed now. Obviously, Michigan is looking into the situation now according to my sources, and Juwan also has a no tolerance policy based on his history.”

There was an issue with Jace Howard missing a training appointment. Jon Sanderson, the strength coach, made a comment about the culture, which is what set off Howard.

Brendan Quinn of The Athletic is also reporting that Sanderson lodged an HR complaint over the matter. That is being investigated by HR. A report will be written and in the end, it will be up to Warde Manuel to determine if the incident violates the zero-tolerance policy that Juwan Howard has been working under since a physical confrontation in a game against Wisconsin back in 2022.

As of now, Howard is expected to return as the head coach Saturday for the game against Eastern Michigan. It remains to be seen if Sanderson will resume his duties.

Any talk of Juwan Howard getting fired this week was overblown though, although the HR probe into the incident is ongoing according to Quinn.