Michigan AD focused on supporting Juwan Howard, will evaluate program after season

Ann Arbor — The Michigan men's basketball team is in the midst of a disastrous season that hasn’t gone the way anyone in and around the program has wanted.

While many fans are fed up with the direction the Wolverines are heading under Juwan Howard, athletic director Warde Manuel remains supportive of the fifth-year head coach.

“Somebody asked me about patience, and I think that’s the key with all our programs,” Manuel told reporters Saturday after introducing Sherrone Moore as the 21st head coach in Michigan football history. “Juwan is working with the staff, with the team, to win."

Following Saturday's 88-78 home loss to Iowa, the Wolverines are 7-13 and sit at the bottom of the Big Ten standings with a 2-7 record. The latest defeat marked Michigan's third straight by double digits, following an 88-73 loss to Illinois and a 99-67 blowout at Purdue, which was the program's most lopsided loss in 17 seasons.

Since starting the season 3-0, Michigan has lost 13 of 17 and has fewer wins in 2024 (one) than the football team (two). Barring a miraculous turnaround, the Wolverines are on track to miss the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2007 and 2008 tournaments.

“(Howard) doesn’t like it, the staff doesn’t like it, the student-athletes don’t like where we are right now," Manuel said. "But I have not seen a lack of effort on the team. We could play better defense at times. We can turn over the ball less. We can do things that would help us win.

"I’m watching, I’m talking to Juwan and I know he’s working on it, and I know the student-athletes and the coaches are working on it as well.”

Manuel said it's "rare" but he has made an in-season coaching change before. When he was the athletic director at UConn, he fired football coach Paul Pasqualoni in Sept. 2013 after the Huskies got off to an 0-4 start.

Manuel doesn't plan on doing that this year, especially considering what Howard has gone through in recent months. Before the season, he had heart surgery in mid-September and spent 15 days in the hospital. After he was discharged, it took weeks before he could rejoin the team in a limited capacity and nearly three months before he was cleared to return to his post as head coach.

"Let’s not discount what, personally, Juwan has been through," Manuel said. "When somebody goes through that, a colleague goes through open-heart surgery, I’d be callous as hell if I didn’t worry about them."

While the on-court product has been subpar, Manuel said Howard's health is his biggest concern, which goes beyond the successes and failures of the program. After Howard made his season debut as head coach against Eastern Michigan on Dec. 16, he noted at the time he still wasn't 100%.

But ever since Howard assumed his full-time duties, things have spiraled out of control. The Wolverines had a five-game skid, the longest of Howard’s tenure, where they fell at home to mid-major McNeese State and blew double-digit halftime leads in back-to-back road games against Penn State and Maryland.

That was followed by the most recent string of losses to Illinois, Purdue and Iowa. The beating by the Boilermakers served as a breaking point for some, including former Michigan standout Nik Stauskas.

Stauskas, a member of Michigan’s 2013 national runner-up team and the 2014 Big Ten Player of the Year, voiced his discontent after the Michigan men’s basketball Instagram account posted the final score from Purdue.

“These kids have no respect or understanding of what it means to put on that M,” Stauskas wrote in a comment. “Haven’t felt any kind of passion or love for the game from Michigan basketball in years (tear drop emoji).”

Howard said he was aware of Stauskas’ comment, which caught him "by surprise."

“Nik is entitled to voice his opinion. I respect the fact that he did voice his opinion,” Howard said Friday night in a video call with reporters. “I would love to see Nik come here and come support the program and share to the team and the players how he feels in person, because I think it would have a huge impact. I think it would give the players a chance to speak on how they feel about his opinion. That conversation would need to be had on all levels.

“It’s a different way how you can handle it as well. I’d rather for it not to be mentioned publicly without having a phone call or being present. If it’s done that way, I think that’s the right way to do it. And that’s just my opinion. I’m entitled to my opinion as well. But we love Nik. We look at him as a part of the Michigan brotherhood. Like I said earlier, we respect his opinion.”

On top of the poor results and Stauskas’ criticism has been the off-court issues, starting with Howard’s non-physical altercation with longtime strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson at a practice in early December. That led to an internal review which resulted in no disciplinary action.

Since that incident, Sanderson has been away from the team and Mike Favre, Sanderson’s boss, has primarily been on the bench during games. When asked about Sanderson’s status, Manuel told The Detroit News he’s “working through it.”

Then there’s the situation involving leading scorer and starting point guard Dug McDaniel, who has been suspended from traveling to road games for the foreseeable future because of academic issues.

Despite all that and the fact that the Wolverines are trending toward their first losing season since 2009-10, Manuel is taking a measured approach with Howard, who led Michigan to a Big Ten regular-season title and an Elite Eight in his second year.

But since that Elite Eight trip, Michigan is 44-44 with a Sweet 16 appearance in 2022 and an NIT bid in 2023.

Manuel said he spoke with Howard, who has two years left on a contract extension signed in November 2021, as recently as last week. However, Manuel said there have been no discussions about Howard's future at Michigan because he hasn't "given it any thought."

“I have not spent one moment thinking about anything but supporting Juwan and this team,” Manuel said. “I haven’t thought about the evaluation of the season. All of that stuff comes at the end of the season. I’ve done it in my career but it’s extremely rare for me to make a decision in the middle of the season. Something has really got to be off.

"I’ve not thought about it. I have not talked to him about it. We haven’t had that conversation. All that stuff happens and will happen at the end of the season. My focus with Juwan and each of our teams is to support them to have success."

jhawkins@detroitnews.com

@jamesbhawkins