From Michigan basketball he came, and to Michigan basketball he returned — but also from the NBA he came, and to the NBA he will return.
The prodigal player-turned-coach Juwan Howard found early success overseeing his alma mater, but in the past few years, the Wolverines didn’t just fall off, they fell off precipitously. After a program-worst 8-24 season, Howard was ousted and Dusty May was hired to facilitate the rebuild.
While Michigan basketball fans are focused on the maize and blue, Howard naturally needed to find another job. And according to ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, he’s landing back in the professional ranks as an assistant for the Brooklyn Nets.
ESPN Sources: Juwan Howard has agreed to join the Brooklyn Nets as an assistant coach. Howard spent six NBA seasons as a Heat assistant before returning to Michigan for five years as head coach. Howard arrives as part of Jordi Fernandez’s first staff. pic.twitter.com/RMjNVgpiel
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 26, 2024
Howard spent his pre-Michigan coaching career with the Miami Heat but was a hot commodity for head coaching jobs, even in the NBA, before choosing to come back to Ann Arbor. Though he’s joining a new staff with a new head coach, and despite the past few years of Wolverines basketball not working out, he’ll have a lot of positive experience that could aid a first-year head coach in Jordi Fernandez.