Michigan’s Juwan Howard will take over as head coach of the Wolverines on Saturday, athletic director Warde Manuel revealed on Friday.
It will be Howard’s first game as the team’s full-time head coach this season, following a heart procedure in September.
Howard has also avoided discipline as a result of an incident at practice last week. According to ESPN, he got into a fight with strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson.
According to various sources, no punches were thrown, but the two men needed to be separated. Sanderson did not attend Michigan’s game against Iowa last Sunday, but Howard did travel with the team and sat on the bench.
“The return of our usual coaching structure comes after a review of an incident involving several individuals during a team practice last week,” Manuel stated in a statement. “Nothing was discovered to warrant disciplinary action for anyone involved based on a thorough internal review.” As a result, we will proceed with a focus on our team and our season.”
The game against Eastern Michigan on Saturday will be the next stage in Howard’s eventual return to full-time duty.
The planned September procedure was to resect an aortic aneurysm and repair an aortic valve, both of which were discovered during a regular medical check earlier in the offseason. Howard returned to the bench as an observer during Michigan’s Battle 4 Atlantis trip to the Bahamas, and he has now converted to an assistant coach role for the last two weeks.
“Coach Howard, his doctors and our medical experts remain aligned in taking this next step as he recovers from a September heart procedure,” Manuel told reporters.
Associate head coach Phil Martelli served as Michigan’s interim head coach during Howard’s absence. “We greatly appreciate associate head coach Phil Martelli’s guidance of our program on an interim basis to start the season,” Manuel said. “I want to personally thank Phil for what he has done in the past few months to lead the program. We will continue to benefit from his wisdom moving forward.”
Following a 3-0 start, the Wolverines are 5-5 overall (1-1 in the Big Ten). Following Saturday’s game, the Wolverines will travel to Charlotte to compete in the Jumpman Invitational before coming home to finish nonconference play against McNeese on December 29.
Michigan’s Big Ten season begins on January 4 against Minnesota.
