[jwplayer nGkU1uy4-XNcErKyb]
No, NBA, just stop it.
Last year, it lured Michigan basketball’s winningest all-time coach in John Beilein, who completely transformed the team from being a moribund group to two Final Fours and NCAA championship game appearances. So the Wolverines went and brought back one of its favorite sons in Juwan Howard, the Fab Five member who had a long and storied NBA career and was well-respected as an assistant coach in the league for the past several years.
Howard had decent success in his first year of being the head coach at any level, though the team went through a bit of a mid-year slump while star forward Isaiah Livers was injured. The maize and blue surprised many early as they won the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament — taking down UNC and Gonzaga during the Thanksgiving break.
Apparently that’s all some teams need to see, as they’re gearing up to try to lure Howard away from his alma mater in Ann Arbor.
ESPN Sources: A possible NBA coaching candidate whose name is gaining traction within front offices: Michigan coach Juwan Howard. Howard has an obviously strong resume as a player and later an assistant under Erik Spoelstra. He interviewed for Lakers, Cavs before taking UM job.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 24, 2020
Our thought: there’s close to no chance that Howard leaves Ann Arbor, especially not at this juncture. Like Woj noted, he interviewed for jobs last year and certainly could have been in the running for more — or if he wanted to stay in the NBA, he almost certainly would have held out instead of taking his self-proclaimed dream job.
All-in-all, this will be a good look for Michigan basketball recruiting, if Howard is courted and vehemently says no. But, then again, we’ve seen the same happen with Jim Harbaugh in football, and the speculation has caused enough damage for opposing teams to use his pro-popularity as an annual rumor.