Juwan Howard must establish his culture as the new coach of the Michigan men's basketball team.
It does not have to be a Fab Five culture — the easy-to-draw link, given Howard was a member of the star-studded freshman class that reached two national championship games but also led to heavy NCAA sanctions that buried the basketball program for a decade.
It doesn't have to be the John Beilein culture, which used a system that relied less on four- and five-star talent and more on player development. That led to two more national championship game appearances for the Wolverines' program.
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It needs to be a winning culture: an extension of the stability Beilein brought to Ann Arbor in a critical time for the sport, given the recently concluded federal basketball corruption trials. Howard needs to do this his way and, given his persona as a college player, NBA player and assistant coach, has the makeup to do it.
He just needs to do it his way. Not the Fab Five way. Not the Beilein way. The way that will best benefit Michigan on the basketball court longterm. That is what will keep Howard around.
There will be challenges. The Fab Five nostalgia will be impossible to escape with Howard's hire. Jalen Rose and Chris Webber — who have had a long-standing public rift — were united in their support of Howard becoming head coach. Howard was the neutral force on those teams, the one who stepped out as a junior after Webber left for the NBA to average 20.8 points and 8.9 rebounds.
With this hire, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel is making it clear the school's feud with the Fab Five is over. That stemmed from a federal investigation which revealed booster Ed Martin paid players. The Wolverines pulled down the 1992 and 1993 Final Four banners and the 1998 Big Ten tournament. The program did not make the NCAA Tournament from 1999-2000 to 2007-08, which was Beilein's first season. The scars from that rift were so deep that Webber did not return to campus until he was honorary captain for the Michigan-Penn State football game last year.
This program cannot go through basketball sanctions again, not at a football school where basketball success is a bonus. Beilein brought more success in basketball than the football team has had in the last dozen years, but that was even more welcome because given his reputation there didn't even hint at NCAA trouble. Schools that are more invested in getting to the College Football Playoff than the Final Four do not want any trouble in men's basketball, no matter how clean they say the football program is.
Which circles back to Howard. Manuel did not make his hire to bring back the Fab Five. Manuel brought back Howard because he's a good basketball mind who has learned on the bench from Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley with the Miami Heat. This is a basketball decision.
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Howard does not have to be Beilein either. Beilein produced NBA talent at Michigan, but it was based on a system that developed solid recruits into NBA role players. Trey Burke and Nik Stauskas were his only top-10 picks. Rose and ESPN's Jay Williams are almost acting like this system was broken because it didn't have enough NBA lottery talent. That is not true. Look at last year's Final Four for more proof.
The challenge for Howard will be using his ties to the Midwest hoops scene and in the NBA to build something that becomes attractive for college basketball recruits who go on to NBA careers that were like the one Howard enjoyed over 19 seasons. That's what Tom Izzo — whose best NBA player is the ultimate role player in Draymond Green — has done at Michigan State.
Izzo and the Spartans will be one of the many challenges in the Big Ten for Howard. It is the deepest basketball conference as far as tournament-worthy teams go, and Michigan has grown accustomed to being near the front of the line. Howard will be judged on those rivalries with Michigan State and Ohio State. At least LeBron James — known for his long-standing support for the Buckeyes — is supporting Howard at Michigan. That’s a start.
Man 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, 2019
Which leads to the end game: The Fab Five and Beilein eras have one thing in common. You can argue whether North Carolina and Duke were better teams than Howard's teams or whether Louisville and Villanova had more talent than Beilein's national championship runner-up teams. The bottom line is Michigan is 0-4 in those national title games.
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Howard must find the right combination of talent and team basketball: the kind that brought the program its only national championship in 1989. That team featured five NBA starters, too, but you don't hear quite as much about Glen Rice, Terry Mills, Loy Vaught, Rumeal Robinson and Sean Higgins. That group weathered all those Big Ten challenges and a late-season coaching switch to win the program's last national title.
That is the basketball culture Howard must tap into, and Manuel will give him license to do that. There will be a honeymoon, and you will roll all the vintage clips (including Howard celebrating after the Elite Eight victory against Ohio State in 1992).
But it's time for something new at Michigan, and Howard can rely on those Fab Five experiences and build on the legacy Beilein left behind to take a job Howard was more qualified for in the NBA.
Howard is back in school now and, given the timing, this is the best option. If there was a candidate who could bridge the Fab Five and Beilein and move into the future, then Howard is that guy. He has the resources and culture to do this.
He just has to do it his way.
