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Michigan basketball flourishing because of Juwan Howard's commitment to players

Nearly a month ago, the longest-tenured holdover from the John Beilein era at Michigan basketball was telling stories about the new coach in Ann Arbor, the one who guided the Wolverines to a Big Ten championship and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament during his first complete season while earning four Coach of the Year honors along the way.

Eli Brooks, now a graduate student, originally committed to U-M in the summer of 2016, when Juwan Howard was an assistant coach for the Miami Heat. As a guard on Beilein’s team that won the Big Ten tournament and reached the national title game in 2018, Brooks had seen the program at one of its highest moments in recent memory.

So he shared a memory from the early weeks of Howard’s tenure, shortly after the former U-M star was introduced as the Wolverines’ head coach May 22, 2019.

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Small forward Franz Wagner of Germany, the younger brother of ex-Michigan star Moritz Wagner, was nearing the conclusion of a recruitment process complicated by Beilein’s unexpected departure for the NBA. Howard made his relationship with Franz a priority at a time when the younger Wagner brother was still considering several schools.

“When Franz was going through that recruiting process and Juwan just got the job, he actually went over there and watched him play overseas,” Brooks said during Big Ten media day in Indianapolis last month. “That was something that I took away from and I saw.”

Head coach Juwan Howard and the Michigan Basketball team practice during media day Friday, Oct. 15, 2021 at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.
Head coach Juwan Howard and the Michigan Basketball team practice during media day Friday, Oct. 15, 2021 at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.

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Stories of that ilk are common within the Michigan program as Howard, a member of U-M’s vaunted Fab Five recruiting class of 1991, assumed control after Beilein — who reached the Sweet 16 or better in five of his final seven seasons — and infused the Wolverines with the dynamism and national recruiting prowess that a two-time NBA champion provides. Howard’s concoction of an unwavering commitment to his players, exceptionally keen eye for talent and infatuation with his university has thrust the Wolverines into college basketball’s upper echelon.

'I like recruiting'

Seated to the right of Brooks at media day was a player who lives at the intersection of Howard’s best traits. Hunter Dickinson, a 7-foot-1, 260-pound behemoth, was the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year last season and earned numerous second-team All-America honors after averaging 14.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. He emerged as one of Michigan’s best players and is now the star ahead of the 2021-22 campaign. Part of the reason he returned to U-M for another year is to enjoy a more traditional college experience at a school he describes as “the best in the country” — echoing the way Howard routinely characterizes Michigan — after the COVID-19 pandemic marred his first season on campus.

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A native of Hyattsville, Maryland, Dickinson was the No. 43 overall prospect on the 247Sports composite rankings for the class of 2020, the year Howard put together his first full recruiting class. The six-man group featured three players ranked in the top 100 and two graduate transfers who excelled for the Wolverines the following season. Howard’s class ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten and No. 14 nationally in a preview of his recruiting chops.

“I like recruiting,” Howard said. “The phone has become my best friend. I still make sure I make time for my wife.”

This year’s class was even more highly touted. Fresh off a trip to the Elite Eight, Howard signed two five-star prospects, three four-star prospects, one three-star prospect and another graduate transfer in DeVante’ Jones of Coastal Carolina, whom Brooks and Dickinson said could win the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year. Four of Howard’s signees ranked in the top 50 nationally, headlined by the No. 10 overall player Caleb Houstan of Canada, who arrived by way of Montverde Academy in Florida.

The group was considered the best recruiting class in the country until Memphis received a late commitment from Michigan native Emoni Bates.

“I remember last year we were in our apartment and it felt like every week we were getting somebody,” Dickinson said at Big Ten media day. “It was like a little present every week that we were getting. So it was fun for me because, yeah, I want others to experience what I’m experiencing now.”

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Michigan coach Juwan Howard on the bench during the second half of the 87-54 exhibition win over Wayne State on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021, at the Wayne State Fieldhouse.
Michigan coach Juwan Howard on the bench during the second half of the 87-54 exhibition win over Wayne State on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021, at the Wayne State Fieldhouse.

Juwan Howard's 24/7 approach

What he’s experiencing now is a program led by a coach who avails himself to players whenever they need him. In another story about Howard’s work ethic, Brooks described the “open-door policy” that allows for calls or texts any time of the day.

Dickinson routinely capitalizes on that generosity by scheduling one-on-one workouts with Howard to sharpen his game. He also recalled a moment during his recruitment when Howard visited Dickinson before classes at 7:30 a.m. just to say hello.

“He’s so accessible and so willing to help us that I think it drives me to get better because he wants to see me get better so badly that it drives me to work out,” Dickinson said. “He’s never said no to me about any type of workout or anything. ... He really is all about his players, and I think that’s why you see we have such high love for him and just will do anything for him.”

[ Michigan opens Wayne State's new arena with dominating 87-54 exhibition win ]

It’s a 24/7 approach not always embraced by former NBA players who became college coaches, a group that has produced decidedly mixed results over time. For every relative success story like Fred Hoiberg (Iowa State/Nebraska) and Bobby Hurley (Buffalo/Arizona State) there are numerous flops in the form of Clyde Drexler (Houston), Mike Dunleavy Sr. (Tulane), Chris Mullin (St. John’s) and Isiah Thomas (Florida International), among others.

Howard became aware of those failures while weighing the decision to leave his post with the Heat. He sought advice from some of the coaches whose tenures went awry and studied the missteps they made. Everything they said helped formulate Howard's coaching ethos.

“They have taught me throughout the process of how if you really want to coach and really say you want to get into the college game and be a head coach, that it’s more than just the Xs and Os,” Howard said. “And if you’re not willing to embrace the other stuff, then this is not the best place for you. I think you may need to find a new profession.”

He's doing just fine thus far.

Contact Michael Cohen at mcohen@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13. Send questions for his next U-M mailbag.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why Michigan basketball reveres, appreciates Juwan Howard