Juwan Howard makes big admission two years after punching Wisconsin coach
Former Michigan men's basketball coach Juwan Howard addressed his postgame skirmish with members of the Wisconsin coaching staff from two years ago during an interview with The Athletic's Brendan Quinn.
The conversation with Quinn — reportedly Howard's first one-on-one interview in "at least two years" — covered numerous "issues and incidents" from his five seasons at the helm of the Wolverines.
The 51-year-old was fired on March 15 after Michigan finished just 8-24 (3-17 in the Big Ten) during the 2023-24 season.
The melee with the Badgers occurred following a road loss on Feb. 20, 2022.
Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard called a timeout with 15 seconds left in regulation and his team up by 15 points, apparently leading to Howard's frustration.
The former longtime NBA big man got involved in a heated exchange with Gard in the postgame handshake line. As assistant coaches and players attempted to separate the two, Howard swiped at Badgers assistant Joe Krabbenhoft.
Howard was banned for the rest of the regular season and fined $40,000, while Michigan forwards Terrance Williams II and Moussa Diabate were suspended for one game. Gard was handed a $10,000 fine, and Wisconsin guard Jahcobi Neath was suspended one game.
Howard defended his actions following the brawl but struck a noticeably different tone in his chat with Quinn.
"I will always regret how that situation happened, and I will always take full blame for it because [I] can automatically say, ‘Oh, that wasn’t me,'" the former "Fab Five" member said. "But, yes, it was. I could’ve controlled that and handled that situation better. That’s what I’ll always bang my head about. I had the opportunity to apologize publicly, but I also did so privately to the coaches at Wisconsin. We talked. And we moved on and got past the situation. But I can’t sit here and ask people to forget that that ever happened. I take full ownership of it."
Howard admitted that he "should’ve shook [Gard’s] hand and kept going."
As far as why he decided to punch Krabbenhoft, he said that he "felt threatened."
"Someone’s approaching you, they’re saying some words at you, I felt a threat. But look, that’s all it was — just words," Howard said. "He didn’t put his hands on me, I shouldn’t have put my hands on him."
While he has no "immediate plans" to return to the sideline, according to Quinn's report, the 2020-21 AP Coach of the Year said he hopes to make it back eventually, most likely in the NBA.
“This is not the end, and it will not be the end-all, be-all of my coaching career,” Howard said.
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