Michigan basketball silent as rumor swirls about another Juwan Howard altercation

It appears there's been another incident surrounding Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard.

Though the extent is still not clear, various reports indicate Howard and Jon Sanderson, program strength and conditioning coach, reportedly had a confrontation on Friday. According to The Athletic, the incident is being reviewed by the university and was not physical, which temporarily dispelled some early rumors that punches were thrown.

"We have no comment," said university spokesman Kurt Svoboda on behalf of athletic director Warde Manuel in a text message on Monday.

Multiple messages to a program spokesman, the first sent at 9:27 p.m. Sunday night, have gone unanswered.

Rumor began to swirl around that time — shortly after Michigan's 90-80 victory over Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena — that Howard had an physical altercation with Sanderson.

Howard, who has not served as head coach yet this season as he continues to recover from heart surgery on Sept. 15, was on hand and shown multiple times on the game telecast on Sunday. Sanderson, who normally travels with the team to away games, was reportedly not in attendance.

No one from the program has commented publicly on the matter.

Howard transitioned back to an assistant role prior to the team's road trip to Oregon at the beginning of the month, however he's still yet to address media since the offseason.

It's worth noting Howard, who has had a history of both physical and verbal altercations, has a "zero tolerance policy" in his contract. That dates back to his most infamous kerfuffle at Wisconsin in February of 2022, when Howard took exception after Greg Gard calling a late timeout with a double digit lead.

The two got into a shouting match in the postgame handshake line which quickly escalated to Howard striking Wisconsin assistant Joe Krabbenhoft in the face — the Big Ten suspended Howard for the remainder of the regular season (five games) and fined him $40,000.

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Eleven months prior, in the 2021 Big Ten tournament, Howard was ejected in the second half of a ball game after he and Maryland coach Mark Turgeon got into a screaming match during a timeout. Howard, who was assessed two technical fouls and tossed from the game, had to be physically restrained by multiple staff members.

Most recently, Howard was ejected in Michigan's 73-57 loss to Texas Tech earlier this season, in his first week back on the bench.

Howard's former college teammate at U-M fellow Fab Five member Jalen Rose showed his support on social media by saying Howard "did not & is not" going to step down in his role; then went one further to project a date for when his official return as head coach, which still hasn't been announced, will be Saturday against Eastern Michigan at Crisler Center.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball silent after reported Juwan Howard incident