247Sports: Could Juwan Howard leave Michigan basketball for Detroit Pistons?
It’s that time of the year again, when — like what happens with football coach Jim Harbaugh in December — think pieces come out linking Michigan basketball head coach Juwan Howard to NBA jobs.
Howard and Michigan are coming off a very disappointing season. The Wolverines may have two first-round NBA draft picks, but they missed the NCAA Tournament couldn’t do anything in the lowly NIT last month.
Despite that, Howard appears to be a hot name in NBA coaching circles.
247Sports put out a piece on Tuesday morning discussing hot names for NBA coaching jobs. Along with Jerry Stackhouse, Howard was the prominent name discussed by author Eric Bossi. Bossi thinks a move just down the road to the Detroit Pistons makes sense for the Wolverines’ head man.
Stackhouse isn’t the only current college head coach getting some recent buzz either. Michigan’s Juwan Howard, the guy he beat in the NIT this year (and a former teammate of his with the Dallas Mavericks), is getting some buzz for the Pistons post and other jobs as well.
Like Stackhouse, Howard is highly regarded and well-respected in NBA circles — he comes with the LeBron James stamp of approval — and we are just a year removed from the Lakers exploring him as a coach. While no former offer was ever made, many believe Howard would have had a legitimate chance at the job if he wouldn’t have been preparing to coach not one, but two, of his sons on the 2022-23 Michigan team. With his youngest Jett Howard off to the NBA after his freshman year along with big man Hunter Dickinson hitting the portal and sophomore Kobe Bufkin‘s surprise departure for the NBA, there is behind-the-scenes chatter that Howard is much more open to a potential change than he was this time a year ago.
This is Howard’s biggest offseason, as echoed by 247Sports’ Isaac Trotter, who writes: “Would it surprise anyone if the Pistons brass reached out to Howard to gauge his interest? Will the Michigan Man rectify this plight? Or should he jump to try his luck with a Cade Cunningham-Jaden Ivey backcourt?“
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Michigan means something to Juwan Howard. For coaches that don’t have strong ties to their alma mater in the way that Howard has to U-M, sure, it makes sense that they’re keeping their eye on the next level.
Could Howard depart? It’s possible, especially with Jett Howard, his son, moving onto the NBA. But Jace is still on the roster, for one, and it would take a lot of frustration with NIL and the college basketball landscape to pry him away from his beloved Wolverines.
Sure, there is precedent, kind of — John Beilein had those frustrations and bolted for the Cleveland Cavaliers job, unceremoniously. (Beilein is currently in the Pistons’ front office.) But it’s beyond unlikely Howard moves on, unless he received some kind of indication from the athletics department that it’s in his best interest.
So, it’s likely another year, another baseless rumor coming from a mill that loves to put Harbaugh back into the NFL and Howard back into the NBA. Because some cannot even envision that a coach would want to be at their alma mater if there are pro options available.
