The men’s Michigan Basketball season is officially over, following a 66-57 loss to Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten tournament on Wednesday. The loss dropped Michigan to 8-24 overall and 3-18 in conference play, solidifying the worst record in program history.
With the season now over, all eyes turn to U-M Athletic Director Warde Manuel as he decides Juwan Howard’s fate moving forward. Given the current circumstances, it’s hard to imagine that Manuel would have any legitimate reason for bringing Howard back for another year. The product on the court is awful, recruiting is trending in the wrong direction, the culture of the program seems to be deteriorating by the day, and Howard’s repeated outbursts (some turning physical) remain a concern.
Following the loss to Penn State on Wednesday, Howard took a number of questions during his postgame press conference. One of those questions involved a “reporter” who claimed that the “white media” was to blame for Howard being on the hot seat. While it’s not all that uncommon for members of the media to ask dumb questions, it was pretty disappointing that Howard didn’t offer any pushback at the ridiculous claim.
Here’s the question:
There’s three Black coaches in this conference and throughout the season. Each one of you has been put on a hot seat by the white media. I’m hoping that you survive this because we know Black coaches sometimes don’t. But can you speak on just the fact that the three of you are doing the job that you’ve been hired to do, representing as coaches. There was Black kids in the stands today that got to see you coach and will see the other two Black coaches during this tournament. Can you just speak on that?
Although Howard provided a relatively lengthy answer to the question, not once did he pushback at all against the obvious racism threaded within the question itself. After all, Howard (along with the rest of the college basketball world) knows exactly why he’s on the hotseat – and it has nothing to do with the “white media.”
Here’s Howard’s full response:
Well, I got into coaching because I remember how my coaches impacted me as I grew. When I touched — let’s call it what it is. When I first touched campus on the University of Michigan, how Steve Fisher and his staff helped me in so many ways to become a graduate student at one of the prestigious universities, speaking of the University of Michigan.
Coming as a kid from the inner city, being the first in my family to receive my degree. Promising my grandmother, no matter what, my goal is to make it to the NBA and take care of our family, but I promise you I’m going to get my education to inspire my family members and also others that come from our community that they can do the same thing.
Now fast track, this is, I’ve always said to you guys, a dream job to be able to impact these young men, to encourage them, to grow with them, to teach them how to come from a young man to a man during some of these uncomfortable times in our society.
I relish the fact that, yeah, there are always going to be moments where everyone’s entitled to their opinion. I’m not going to please everyone. But I’m going to, of course, roll up my sleeves and be inspired to work hard every day to make sure that I’m responsible to do a job to help our university be proud of a winning culture. We’re going to get back to that, and that’s my goal, and I’m going to stick to it.
There have been coaches that have really inspired me to go out and do something special during this college game, and I look back to the John Thompsons of the world. I also am inspired by the Mike Jarvises of the world and many others.
The question, for as terrible as it was, gave Howard the perfect opportunity to do two important things. First, it gave him the opportunity to push back on the idea that racism is at the heart of impacting his job security. Second, it gave Howard the opportunity to take full ownership over his conduct and the current state of his program. He failed to do both, and that’s pretty disappointing.
