The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Monday, August 31, 2020 — 17
Michigan
men’s
basketball
coach Juwan Howard said that
he will stay at Michigan in a
statement responding to a report
from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski
that Howard has been gaining
traction in NBA front offices as a
potential head coaching candidate.
“While I am flattered, and know
it will more than likely happen
again, I am not exploring, seeking
or listening,” Howard said. “I am
the head coach at the University of
Michigan.”
The NBA buzz surrounding
Howard is not surprising; he
interviewed for coaching positions
with the Cleveland Cavaliers and
the Los Angeles Lakers before
taking the job at Michigan. His
strong 19-year stint as a player and
successful transition into assistant
coaching in the NBA both make
him a strong candidate.
This already-impressive resume
was likely only bolstered in the
eyes of front-office executives by
Howard’s impressive first year
at Michigan. Howard showed
level-headed – but still animated
– leadership over the course of a
season that saw junior forward
and top scorer Isaiah Livers
struggle with lingering injuries,
a suspension of star senior point
guard
Zavier
Simpson,
and
postseason cancellations due to
the coronavirus. Despite these
and other significant roadblocks,
Howard led the Wolverines to a
solid 19-12 overall record.
But Howard’s decision to stay
in Ann Arbor is also somewhat
unsurprising. He was visibly
emotional in the opening press
conference when his hire was
announced,
especially
when
his old jersey was brought out.
He has moved his family to the
Ann Arbor area, put his younger
children in schools in the area,
and brought his son Jace onto the
team with a scholarship.
“This is where my focus is,”
said Howard. “We have goals,
dreams, and championships to
win.”
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Juwan Howard confirmed his commitment to Michigan amid NBA rumors.
Juwan Howard to stay
at Michigan: ‘This is
where my focus is’
Players feel voices weren’t heard in postponement
Carlo Kemp isn’t on social media,
so he didn’t see the petition Ohio
State quarterback Justin Fields
circulated this week. Signed by
281,000 people as of Wednesday
afternoon, it asks the Big Ten to
reinstate the fall football season.
Told about it, Kemp had a question.
“Where is it?”
“There’s people that want to
play and there are people that are
willing to accept or take on the risk
we talked about being able to play,”
Kemp, a fifth-year defensive tackle,
said. “However many votes it has, it
doesn’t matter, but it shows you that
athletes want to play and people
want to play football. Hearing and
listening to that, I do think there’s a
way this could have been done.”
In a lot of ways, that sums up the
criticism many players, parents and
coaches have for the Big Ten right
now. They want to play. And they
feel their voices weren’t heard in
the process.
The Big Ten isn’t standing
alone in calling things off — the
majority of the FBS has, and the
FCS schedule has been reduced
to a handful of guarantee games.
But it is the only conference that’s
suffered a complete, unmitigated
public relations disaster because of
its decision. The timing, just days
after a conference-only schedule
was released, was poor. The
reasoning wasn’t explained clearly.
It’s been over a week and it’s still
unclear whether school presidents
actually took a formal vote, and if so,
what the count was — not just to the
public, but to the conference’s own
athletic directors.
“If
you’re
going
to
affect
someone’s livelihood, I think it’s
really important that you hear from
them,” Kemp said. “Personally, I do
think we should’ve been heard. I
think there were some great efforts
to get that done. I think people did
go to good lengths to hear from
their student athletes. But it’s just
the tip and you’re hoping that more
can be done in the future.
“Do student athletes want to
play, do they not want to play, and
I think that should really influence
the decision a little bit more. And
then hearing how we feel right now
is where I go back to this limbo that
we’re in. The decision was made
and we’re just expected to go along
with it. A lot of things change once
you do that, and I don’t think that
was really taken into consideration
how a lot of this stuff gets affected
going forward.”
Student-athletes
aren’t
paid,
but no season means they won’t
have a chance to show their skills
to NFL teams. It means guys who
weren’t on the NFL radar won’t get
a chance to put themselves there. As
Heisman winner and No. 1 overall
pick Joe Burrow tweeted, that
would have been him a year ago.
When coach Jim Harbaugh
broke the news to the team that
the season had been postponed,
some players cried, fifth-year senior
tight end Nick Eubanks said. Others
just thought about what’s next — a
question that still doesn’t have an
answer.
The Big Ten might try to play a
spring season, but there’s been no
plan developed — let alone released
— as of yet. To the outside world, it
looks like the conference didn’t plan
for the possibility of a cancellation
until it actually made the decision
to cancel.
Speaking with reporters on
Wednesday, Eubanks and Kemp
both made the same points as
Harbaugh did last week in a
statement advocating for a fall
season. Michigan followed the
protocols, had low rates of infection
and felt they could have continued
to do so during the season. Whether
it would have withstood the return
of students to campus, and whether
other schools would have been as
successful, is unclear. They would
have liked the chance to find out.
“Honestly I think we could’ve did
the same thing for our conference
as well as other conferences,”
Eubanks said. “It’s quite frustrating.
A lot of guys had a lot riding on this
season coming up. Just for it to get
shut down, it really hurts a lot of
teammates and players.”
It hasn’t quite hit Kemp yet, the
idea that while he’s on his couch
during Saturdays this fall, he might
be watching other college football
games. The idea that guys might
get a season while he doesn’t. He’s
just trying to work on his game with
the limitations in place, coming into
Schembechler Hall and practicing
whenever allowed.
“I hope all the information
is being distributed and talked
about throughout the conferences,
not just for football reasons, but
for safety,” Kemp said. “If we’ve
canceled, you want to make sure
that the remaining players in the
other three conferences are as safe,
as well.”
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Fifth-year senior Carlo Kemp is frustrated by the Big Ten’s decision to cancel fall sports without consulting players.
ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
How the Michigan men’s soccer
team found out its season was over
Tuesday morning marked a
long-awaited return to normalcy
for the Michigan men’s soccer
team.
Players
and
coaches
took
the pitch for the first full-team
training session of the summer.
Masks were worn and safety
measures followed. Smiles were
contagious.
Even
amid
a
particularly
ominous backdrop — their fall
season rumored to be teetering
on the brink of cancellation — the
team left practice upbeat.
“Being together, it was very
much missed,” coach Chaka Daley
said. “Just being back, seeing
each other, having a bit of banter,
watching guys compete and play
soccer, that’s what we’ve missed
over the last five months.”
At 5:30, the team gathered
again. The morning’s joy had
turned into melancholy, grins
wiped
away
by
long
faces.
Daley briefed his players on the
afternoon’s news — due to the
unrelenting COVID-19 pandemic,
the Big Ten had postponed all fall
sports.
A hush descended over the
team. The reality set in. One
precious morning — that would
be it.
“It’s really hard right now,”
senior
forward
Mohammed
Zakyi said. “There’s so many
uncertainties. I’m just trying to
keep my head up and not sulk
about all this.”
The Big Ten’s decision leaves
Zakyi and his teammates in limbo.
Question marks are pressing and
copious. Answers, largely absent.
“Seniors, we don’t even know
if we have another year left,”
Zakyi said. “I have so much stuff
to figure out, with my eligibility,
with my visa, with everything.
What options come after this
year? I aspire to go to the MLS, but
I don’t know if there’s going to be a
draft, if I’ll get to train here, if we’ll
have a season. It’s just really hard.”
Up
until
Tuesday’s
coup
de grace, the team remained
optimistic that a fall season could
safely take place.
Closely adhering to University
guidelines, players filtered back to
campus the first week of August
to prepare for the season. Players
followed the 14-day pre-report
risk assessment prior to their
return and complied with the six-
day resocilization period, which
involved a series of tests and
health screenings.
Monday, the team met as one
for the first time. Tuesday was
meant to kickstart the first week
of preparation for the fall slate. But
with the pandemic still at large,
the Big Ten decided that college
athletics weren’t feasible.
“Obviously,
we’re
disappointed,” Daley said. “No
competitive
student-athlete
is
going to take this news well. I
do know that they all had a very
good sense of realism, going into
it understanding that we are in a
global pandemic and that we’re
fortunate just to be back.
“We just didn’t know the
timeliness of this, that it would’ve
happened as quickly as it did
when we started our preseason.
We were hopeful to have a little
bit more time to see if things
could work, but all the medical
professionals, our University, our
Athletic Department and the Big
Ten made a decision that’s best for
all the student-athletes.”
The team will continue to meet
on a regular basis, likely a mixture
of in-person training, scheduled
workouts and Zoom calls, Daley
said.
As per a potential season, all
eyes turn toward the spring —
a scenario not without its own
issues.
“I don’t know how it would
work because there are so many
other sports going on,” Zakyi
said. “If you add all the fall
sports to that, it could get pretty
overwhelming.”
The spring, though, presents
itself as the only option for a
season. Putting the uncertainty of
the situation aside, Daley knows
his team would embrace the idea.
“If we can compete this
academic year, I’m sure the
student-athletes would welcome
the challenge and enjoy it,” Daley
said. “And there are challenges
with everything now. Playing
in the fall, playing in the spring.
You look at the spring sports, they
already lost a season last year.
“Hopefully, we get through
the other side of this in a positive
way. And if we’re afforded the
opportunity to play in the spring,
our players will be motivated,
hungry and ready to go.”
“We don’t know what’s going
to happen,” Zakyi said. “But it
would just be great to have the
opportunity to play again.”
JARED GREENSPAN
Daily Sports Writer
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
The Michigan men’s soccer team’s fall season was postponed last week due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Michigan women’s soccer team
devastated by canceled season
The
decision
was
highly
anticipated and largely expected.
But, nonetheless, it was met with
heartbreak and devastation.
Coming off one of the best
seasons in recent history, the
Michigan women’s soccer team
was poised for another stellar
season. But, like the rest of the
college sports world, that chance
at redemption will be put on hold
until at least the spring as the Big
Ten announced that all fall sports
would be postponed.
“I think what’s one of the
things that has been the biggest
disappointment is the excitement
that this whole team had around
this upcoming fall,” Michigan
head coach Jennifer Klein said.
“(We know) what this team
would be able to accomplish and
(we) really wanted to get out
there and get tested and see if
we could raise the level of our
program.”
Regardless,
the
team
acknowledges
that
this
is
bigger than sports, however
tough it is to accept the season’s
postponement.
No
one
has
experienced
anything
of
this
magnitude
before — it’s beyond even a
season-ending injury.
“Injuries are easier,” senior
goalkeeper Hillary Beal said.
“You go through them and
there’s kind of an endpoint and
you
determine
when
you’re
allowed to return to play. But
this is (different) because you
don’t know when there’s an end
(in) sight and you don’t know
when you’re going to have the
opportunity to take the field
again and start competing.”
The
Wolverines
had
just
finished their first week of
practice
back
together
after
a lengthy off-season and the
team picked up right where
they left off last season in
terms of competitiveness and
togetherness with the team.
“There was a lot of great energy
and just appreciation for being
back together as a team,” Klein
said. “(We) really had optimism
and hope that we would be able to
pull a season off in the fall. ... But
it just didn’t make sense for us to
move forward in that way.”
Now, with the season officially
postponed, the focus will shift
from preparing for competition
to
developing
the
freshman
class, focusing on the future and
keeping the morale of the team
high. Klein sees this challenging
time as a defining moment for the
future of the program.
Each player is affected in a
different manner, but no group
of players is affected as much
as the senior class. The seniors
recognize that they can use this
time to develop the freshman
class and, although they may
have
finished
their
careers,
they can impact the future.
Beal sees a silver lining in this
unprecedented situation.
“For now, we get to be around
each other,” Beal said. “I think
it’s more gratitude and just being
thankful for the opportunities we
get to have together as a team.”
As a fall sport, Michigan is
used to jumping straight into the
season without having much time
to adjust to a new team. The new
extended offseason has its pros
and cons.
“It does give us more time to
prepare and to reach those goals,”
sophomore
forward
Danielle
Wolfe said. “Also having that much
time you’re prone more to being
relaxed and falling back. (But),
this team, everyone has their eye
on the prize and everyone knows
what they want.”
Every college athlete is going
through
a
similar
range
of
emotions, but Wolfe is especially
proud to be a part of this team
during this time.
“Going through this together
with them is like a blessing for all
of us,” Wolfe said. “The good and
bad, I think that’s a big part of
being a part of this team.”
For Klein, it is essential during
this time that the team stay
focused on what they have worked
on in terms of accountability and
owning your development.
“Dealing
with
adversity,
dealing with sudden change, all
those things existed at different
points of our life,” Klein said. “I
think everybody has a time in their
life where they look and the path
in front of you isn’t clear, but you
have to trust the process and trust
the people around you that you’re
going to eventually see the end.
“(You have to) stay optimistic
and positive that it will turn out.
It might not look exactly like you
thought it would, but it’s going
to have to. There’s going to be
something that is going to be
positive at the end.”
LILY ISRAEL
Daily Sports Writer
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan coach Jennifer Klein was excited about the Wolverines’ upcoming season before it was postponed.