Michigan offers former player Juwan Howard head coaching job

Juwan Howard appears close to finalizing a move to become Michigan new men's basketball coach. 

The school formally offered its head coaching job to Howard on Wednesday, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The deal is currently being negotiated.

Howard, 46, would be replacing John Beilein – the program’s all-time winningest coach – who ended his 12-year run at the school last Monday to become the new head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The former Michigan and NBA standout has been a member of the Miami Heat's coaching staff under Erik Spoelstra since 2013. He has never been an NBA head coach nor coached in college. 

Howard first departed Michigan after his junior season in 1994 to embark on a 19-year NBA career. He was a key member of Michigan’s famed Fab Five recruiting class in 1991. The Chicago native and former All-American was the first of the group to commit, and was a key cog in what resulted in back-to-back NCAA tournament title game appearances in 1992 and 1993.

Those Final Four banners have since been removed from the Crisler Center due to sanctions resulting from the Ed Martin recruiting scandal that tainted that era. Howard was not part of the group of players who were ultimately disassociated from the university for a 10-year period as a result of the scandal.

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Howard still ranks No. 20 on Michigan’s all-time scoring list and No. 11 on the all-time rebounding list.

As an NBA player, Howard was an NBA All-Star in 1996 and wound up as a two-time champion with the Miami Heat (2012, 2013). During his 19 years in the league, Howard averaged 13.4 points and 6.1 rebounds in stints with the Washington Bullets, the Dallas Mavericks, the Orlando Magic, the Houston Rockets, the Denver Nuggets, the Charlotte Bobcats, the Portland Trailblazers and the Heat.

At Michigan, Howard played in 100 games during his three-year career. As a junior in 1994, Howard averaged 20.8 points and nine rebounds per game. He declared for the NBA draft after that season and was selected No. 5 overall. Howard, per reports at the time, took correspondence courses during his rookie year to earn his Michigan degree in 1995.

In a coaching search that became heavily impacted by the timing of Beilein’s mid-May departure, Michigan was in a unique – and unenviable – position of trying to work with due diligence while battling a real time constraint due to roster and recruiting retention. 

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel told reporters in Chicago last week that he’d like to zero in on a candidate with previous head coaching experience, though he did expand his search beyond that. Ultimately, he said, he wanted to “get it right.”