Former Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard reportedly hired as Brooklyn Nets assistant
Juwan Howard has landed another coaching job.
The former Michigan basketball coach is joining the Brooklyn Nets as an assistant coach, according to a report from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. It will be Howard's second stint as an NBA assistant and he will work under first-time head coach Jordi Fernandez.
ESPN Sources: Juwan Howard has agreed to join the Brooklyn Nets as an assistant coach. Howard spent six NBA seasons as a Heat assistant before returning to Michigan for five years as head coach. Howard arrives as part of Jordi Fernandez’s first staff. pic.twitter.com/RMjNVgpiel
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 26, 2024
Michigan fired Howard after the bottom fell out in the 2023-24 season when the Wolverines finished dead last in the Big Ten with an 8-24 overall record, the most losses in the 107-year history of the program. Michigan missed the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive year, the first time it happened to U-M since 1999-2008, prompting athletic director Warde Manuel to pull the plug.
Just over a week after Howard was fired, Michigan hired former Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May as his successor, who has already hit the recruiting trail hard in his first month in Ann Arbor, including the transfer portal.
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Howard came back to Michigan to replace Jim Beilein as the program's coach in 2019 after he began his coaching career as a Miami Heat assistant from 2013-19. Howard realized initial success, reaching the Elite Eight and Sweet 16 as well as winning a national coach of the year award in 2021, but could not sustain that momentum the last two years.
On top of the step back on the court, Howard also had to deal with major heart surgery just before the 2023 season began, which caused him to miss the beginning of the season before returning at the end of November. He also had other non-basketball-related issues such as striking a Wisconsin assistant in a post-game handshake line and getting in an alleged altercation with former U-M strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson in December.
Michigan was 87-73 overall with Howard at coach, but just 26-40 the last two seasons.
Howard will join a coaching staff looking to orchestrate a turnaround for the Nets, who finished 32-50 this past season, missing the playoffs in the East, and do not possess a first-round draft pick to project hope like other struggling teams, like the Detroit Pistons.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Former Michigan coach Juwan Howard hired as assistant by Brooklyn Nets
