The Big Ten conference announced on Monday that Michigan head coach Juwan Howard has been suspended for five games -- the rest of the regular season -- and also fined $40,000 for hitting Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft in the face during a postgame brawl on Sunday.
The incident occurred moments after the final buzzer sounded and sealed a 77-63 win for Wisconsin. On the handshake line, Badgers head coach Greg Gard grabbed Howard by the arm to explain why he called a late timeout with the game already out of reach. Howard then argued with Gard, put his finger in his face, and the heated exchange created chaos. Moments later, Howard reached out and struck Krabbenhoft's face, as the scrum continued.
"Juwan Howard was wrong in this situation. There was no need to take this to another level," JR said during the JR SportBrief show on Monday. "I'm fine with the suspension. He just needs to watch his ass. He's now on notice. Howard has to relax, be cool. This is the second or third time he's just been visibly demonstrative, postgame. What are they going to wait for? For him to punch someone's lights out? And he's supposed to be the students' coach?
"I think about the suspension, fair warning. They could've fined him some more. Ultimately, he didn't punch anybody. He went to go strike somebody and he barely got that off... I think his five-game suspension, I'm fine with it. The biggest thing that needed to happen was for Howard to look in the mirror and go, 'Damn, I can't be screwing up $16 million. I need to chill out."
In response to the suspension, Howard released a statement, saying in part, "After taking time to reflect on all that happened, I realize how unacceptable both my actions and words were, and how they affected so many. I am truly sorry." While Howard is away, the Wolverines will be led by associate coach Phil Martelli, who spent two-plus decades as the head coach for St. Joe's.
Michigan (14-11) is currently listed as one of the first four teams out for this year's March Madness tournament, according to CBS Sports bracketologist Jerry Palm. In order for them to clinch an automatic bid, they'd need to win the Big Ten tournament, which begins on Mar. 9 in Indianapolis.
JR's complete thoughts on Howard's suspension can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the JR SportBrief show on Twitter @JRSportBrief and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.