SPORTS 11

Thursday, June 6, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

For Howard, recruiting 
will be biggest challenge

When Jimmy King came home 
from high school practice as a 
highly-touted recruit, he wasn’t 
just greeted by his mother but 
often another call from Juwan 
Howard.
With only one phone attached to 
a cord that stretched through the 
house, as King recalled, he would 
mouth to his mom the moment it 
rang.
“I’m not here, I’m not here,” 
King would tell her while she 
responded to How-
ard.
As 
the 
first 
signee of the Fab 
Five, Howard took 
it 
upon 
himself 
to recruit his fel-
low 
teammates. 
Relentless in his 
pursuits, Howard 
is well-known for 
not only courting 
King to Michigan 
but also Chris Webber, Jalen Rose 
and Ray Jackson.
“Think I recruited you, right?” 
Howard said on Thursday as he 
looked at King from the podium 
at Crisler Center. “Told Jimmy I’m 
coming, you better come with me.”
Twenty-eight years later, How-
ard was introduced as Michigan’s 
basketball coach, and his focus 
toward recruiting will be more 
than just a one-time ordeal. His 
biggest priority as a recruiter is to 
find players who uphold the Michi-
gan culture of brotherhood within 
the team, similar to what he expe-
rienced during his playing days in 
Ann Arbor.
At the same time, though, he 
will need to learn the rules of the 
NCAA before doing so — a stark 
contrast from his predecessor, 
John Beilein, who knew the rule-
book like the back of his hand.
“Brotherhood is big with me,” 
Howard said. “The relationship 
that we built over the years — that 
will never leave us. They are family 
and I know how supportive Jimmy, 
Chris, Jalen, Ray (have been), and 
do you want me to name the other 
teammates? But I know how sup-
portive they all will be in helping 
to continue this Michigan winning 
tradition on and off the floor.
“Recruiting is going to be the 

challenge because I have to first 
understand all the rules. I want 
to continue to make sure that 
this culture does not take a step 
back. I will learn and get into 
that rulebook of NCAA rules as 
far as what you are allowed to 
do and what you’re not allowed 
to do. That’s gonna be one of the 
biggest challenges, and to my 
understanding, there are a lot of 
rules out there.”
As a former five-star, McDon-
ald’s All-American recruit with 
AAU ties through his children, 
Howard is expected to expand 
the Wolverines’ recruiting pipe-
line to players 
Beilein might not 
have considered. 
He affirmed that 
on Thursday, but 
made it known 
that 
he 
also 
wants 
to 
find 
pieces that best 
fit the puzzle.
“I’m all eyes, 
I’m all ears to 
talent,” Howard 
said. “I haven’t just pinpointed 
exactly like, I’m going after the 
five-star, one-and-dones or I’m 
going to recruit three-star kids. 
As a staff, we will meet. We will 
figure out, what is the best solu-
tion moving forward to give us 
the best chance to win?”
Current players are also eager 
to see how Howard’s pedigree, 
both as a player and coach, will 
drive the direction of recruiting. 
But they are confident that he 
will continue to bring in recruits 
that fit right in with the current 
roster.
“If I was a recruit, that would 
definitely catch my eye,” said 
junior forward Isaiah Livers. 
“You’ve got a guy who was in 
the NBA, played in the Fab Five, 
coached in the NBA. He’s got a 
lot of experience under his belt. 
That’s definitely going to draw 
my attention to Michigan.
“As long as he brings in peo-
ple that wanna play defense, 
is gonna work hard and just 
gonna be a great guy off the 
court, I have no problem. We 
all have no problem. We all 
want the same kind of guy. We 
want a guy we can hang out 
with on the court, off the court 
and a guy who works hard. And 
they’ll fit right in.”

AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA
Summer Managing Sports Editor

“We want a guy 
we can hang 
out with... who 
works hard.”

Howard’s emotion, zeal for ‘M’ on 
display at intro press conference

As Juwan Howard approached 
the podium for his introductory 
press conference at the Crisler 
Center, he looked around the 
arena and into the rafters, trying 
to gather himself.
With his head down and his 
back towards to the podium, he 
was overtaken by his emotions. 
When he finally turned again to 
face the crowd seated on the court, 
he leaned into the microphone.
“It’s tears of joy,” Howard said.
As he battled back tears on the 
same floor where he once donned 
maize and blue to battle his 
on-court opponents, Howard left 
no doubt as to whether his passion 
had waned for the program.
His tears eventually became 
a smile as he seemed to come 
to terms with the gravity of the 
moment. According to Howard, 
this accomplishment is second 
only to earning his Michigan 
degree.
“It just made us even more 
excited, man,” said junior forward 
Isaiah Livers. “You got your head 
coach up there crying walking 
up, before he even gets called up 
there. That just shows that he’s 
going to put a lot of work in. He’s 
really going to push for his players 
to be great. He’s going to make –– 
even off the court, he mentioned 
that earlier –– he just wants our 

players to be good people on and 
off the court. No matter what you 
do, he’s going to support us.”
Added 
sophomore 
guard 
Adrien Nuñez: “That’s cool as 
well that he cares enough to even 
have that emotion. There’s not 
a lot of guys that would even go 
up there and have that emotional 
attachment to this university. So 
he’s definitely going to put his best 
foot forward in bringing the best 
assistant coaches, having us be as 
prepared as possible, so I’m really 
excited.”
Howard had been here before 
–– 
participating 
in 
a 
press 
conference at the then-Crisler 
Arena –– but the circumstances 
were quite different. The last time 
he was in a press conference in 
that building, he was declaring for 
the 1994 NBA Draft.
That moment was bittersweet 
for Howard. A promising NBA 
career beckoned, but fresh off an 
Elite Eight loss to Arkansas in the 
NCAA Tournament, he couldn’t 
help but feel a sense of guilt.
“I didn’t do what I came here 
to do,” Howard said. “And that 
was to bring a championship to 
this university. A university that I 
cared so much about. ... Now let’s 
fast forward 25 years later. I’m 
back.”
Over two decades removed 
from his last attempt to bring a 
national championship to Ann 
Arbor, 
Howard 
gets 
another 
chance –– a chance he could not 

pass on.
Howard said Thursday that 
he could’ve stayed in the NBA. 
He received an offer to be the 
associate head coach for the 
Minnesota 
Timberwolves, 
but 
his mind was fixated on only one 
vacancy: Michigan’s.
Despite spending the week 
preparing for the Timberwolves 
interview, news of John Beilein 
leaving the Wolverines for the 
NBA allowed Howard’s mind to 
wander. Friends and family asked 
Howard if he would consider 
coaching in college.
“My answer has always been, 
there’s only one job, only one 
school I would look back and 
pursue at a collegiate level,” 
Howard said, “and that’s the 
University of Michigan.”
For Howard, becoming the 17th 
head coach in program history is a 
dream come true. His zeal for the 
Michigan basketball program was 
on full display from the time he 
walked onto the court Thursday. 
For the current players and 
former teammates in attendance, 
Howard’s fervor spoke volumes.
“No, 
I’m 
not 
(surprised) 
because Juwan is not afraid to 
show –– you know, he’s a strong 
man –– he’s always been a strong 
person to show his emotions,” 
King said. “... None of that was 
fake, that was all real. He’s happy 
to be back. He even got me to tear 
up a little. I gotta keep my rep, but 
he’s killing me right now.”

JORGE CAZARES
Summer Managing Sports Editor

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Juwan Howard was overcome by emotion at the beginning of his introductory press conference Thursday.

