Isaiah Livers had met Juwan Howard before Howard became his new head coach. And before Livers met him, his dad had schooled him on the Fab Five.
So when the news broke last week that Howard was taking over the Michigan basketball team...
"I was ecstatic," Liver said. "I was fist pumping, I was jumping. I was super happy, man, just because I knew what kind of guy he was. I knew what kind of guy he was with the Miami Heat and I obviously heard about the Fab Five. He’s everything he's said to be. He’s just really a good guy."
Wait, you were literally jumping up and down, like a kid on Christmas morning?
"I almost hit my head on the top of the living room," Livers said. "I was like, Juwan Howard!? Ex-Fab Five, played in the NBA, was an NBA coach? Who wouldn’t be happy about that?"
Across the team, and within the group chat, Livers said the reaction was the same. Maybe his teammates weren't bonking their heads on the ceiling, but their excitement was clear.
"I just knew everybody got that smile on their face. Juwan Howard, man. He’s a serious dude and he knows what he’s doing," said Livers.
One of the many questions surrounding the Howard hire concerned his relatability. Sure, he registers with his own generation -- with people like Livers' dad -- but would he resonate with players today? Specifically, would he resonate with recruits?
The Fab Five came and went some 25 years ago. Howard's NBA career was long, but not especially decorated. Will his resume really move the needle with high-schoolers being pushed and pulled in a hundred different directions?
"I think it will. If I was a recruit, he would definitely get my attention," said Livers, a four star in the class of 2017. "Any recruit is always going to look up to a guy who came from the NBA, because that’s where most of the recruits want to go. They want to get to that level, so I think he’s going to do very well recruiting wise."
The real test for Howard will come in the next recruiting cycle, when he has a full year to attract the players he wants. We'll begin to find out if his name still carries any weight with the demographic that matters. For what it's worth, two of Howard's sons play AAU ball, so he's a familiar face on that circuit.
Howard, 46, knows he has a talk task ahead of him. On top of landing talent, he has to uphold the sparkling-clean code that John Beilein put in place.
"Recruiting is going to be a challenge," said Howard. "I have to first understand all the rules. I want to make sure that this culture does not take a step back. I want to learn and get into that rulebook of the NCAA as far as what you’re allowed to do and what you’re not allowed to do. That’s going to be one of the biggest challenges. To my understanding, there are a lot of rules out there."
There sure are. And Beilein never broke a single one. Players and their parents were drawn to him for his honesty and sincerity -- Livers can attest.
"What sold me on Coach B was, he was just real. He doesn’t play around with recruits because he knows that’s a human life. He took that kind of stuff serious. He said, 'If you’re not all in, don’t come. But if you’re all in, we would love to have you.' And that’s what really got me," said Livers. "Something about him just made me want to play for him."
Howard, by initial impressions, seems to possess some of the same values. He'll also have an edge of his own.
"He played in the NBA," said Livers. "What recruit is not going to listen to a guy that played in the NBA, coached in the NBA, now coaching for a top college in the country? That’s really good for recruiting. He said up there he doesn’t really know everything about the recruiting process, but I think all he really needs to do is show his face and just listen to him, because that’s the type of guy he is."
"That’s going to help anyone’s mind out if you’re iffy on Juwan Howard, if D-Wade and LeBron are going to say some tremendous things about him," said Livers. "That’s just going to make anybody – now I’m even more excited he’s going to be our coach."