97.1 The Ticket -- While no news is official, several reports began surfacing Tuesday night that Juwan Howard is expected to be named the head coach of the Michigan basketball team.
Howard reportedly interviewed with athletic director Warde Manuel on Tuesday, but there has been no word on how the meeting went.
Replacing John Beilein – who in 12 seasons brought the Wolverines to nine NCAA Tournaments, five Sweet 16 appearances and a pair of trips to the title game before taking the head job with the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers – is no easy task. Howard has no head coaching experience and no experience at all at the collegiate level. But Howard has received plenty of praise over the last few days, including Fab Five teammates Jalen Rose, Chris Webber and Jimmy King.
Take 5 minutes and listen to Chris Webber talk about Juwan Howard. It's hard not to buy in and want Juwan as the next coach after hearing this. Wow. pic.twitter.com/CkEylfSXZL
— Wolverine Corner (@WolverineCorner) May 21, 2019He got two more big endorsements Tuesday night from two of his Miami Heat teammates -- LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
Talk to me nice. Say it is so!!!? My guy deserves this opportunity. This will only be right https://t.co/TWWH4UuiTZ
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) May 22, 2019Man WHAT!!!!?? Absolutely the right choice and i hope it becomes a done deal ASAP!! One of my favorite people I've ever met at the age of 16 and been around since then. ---- https://t.co/hdmF60odnm
— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 22, 2019While it must be said that James and Wade were both close with Howard during their time in Miami, to get a pair of ringing endorsements from names like that has to mean something.
If Michigan were to hire Howard, they would become the only school at the FBS level with alumni as head coach of both their football and basketball programs.
Other rumored candidates for the job have included Ed Cooley -- who interviewed for the job on Monday before announcing he had signed a contract extension with Providence on Tuesday -- Beilein assistant Luke Yaklich and Butler's LaVall Jordan.
