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.