SportsMonday: For Michigan to remain competitive, more is required than a new head coach…

SportsMonday: For Michigan to remain competitive, more is required than a new head coach…

Fans demanded explanations after the Michigan men’s basketball team dropped yet another game, this time a Saturday matinee loss to Rutgers. As I was making my way from the press box to the media room, I heard a fan inquire about the amenities from the personnel.

 

“Will Juwan be present?” they enquired. “May I speak with him?”

Many supporters hope they have the chance. Michigan supporters want answers as their team, in last place in the Big Ten, has lost its last 11 games, going 1-10. They desire a change in circumstances. They desire Juwan Howard’s removal.

And after witnessing the same old fall against the same humble teams, who can really blame them? There appears to be no end in sight to the program’s steady disintegration, which has continued this season.
To be competitive, the Wolverines will need more than just a coaching change, as much as firing Howard might appease irate supporters. To become important once more, they must deal with a shifting NIL market and years of subpar team formation. Not everyone believes firing Howard is the answer to all problems.

Michigan isn’t competitive in its current construction for a variety of reasons. With young rookies like Jett Howard, Caleb Houstan, and Moussa Diabate departing for small roles in the NBA or deep in the G League, it is unable to retain its best players. Other athletes, such as Hunter Dickinson and Frankie Collins, have accessed the transfer site in search of larger responsibilities or negligible compensation. The Wolverines are caught in a vicious cycle of losing so much quality and having few freshmen classes.
How then do they escape it? First and foremost, NIL reform is required. Michigan’s men’s basketball team trails behind elite teams like Kansas, to whom Dickinson was lost in April of last year. During his sophomore and junior years, Dickinson was the program’s biggest star and publicly bemoaned on his podcast, Roundball, that he didn’t receive a single dollar. Dickinson made “less than six figures” in Ann Arbor, in a market where certain universities can offer big-time players contracts comparable to those of professional leagues. The Wolverines, in particular for men’s basketball, have to drastically alter their tactics in that NIL area if that is the case for everyone. Howard can’t accomplish that on his own.

On the NIL front, Michigan Athletics has taken a stand and is still being cautious. Athletics director Warde Manuel stated as much during a press conference on January 27 to introduce Sherrone Moore as the new football coach.
Although I adore NIL and all that it accomplishes for our student athletes, I don’t want to hear about how we have to incentivize and purchase student players,” Manuel stated. We must discuss the short- and long-term support we can offer you for the remainder of your life. In my opinion, NIL aims to teach children how to make the most of who they are for the rest of their life. Therefore, it’s not a transactional item in my opinion.

While NIL may not be a transactional option for Michigan, it is for players who hope to make that kind of money during their time in college. When players are collecting their pay packet elsewhere, the Wolverines cannot continue to exist on the basis of tradition. Michigan will regress in recruiting as long as it believes that NIL is “purchasing” players. Still, its collectives have afforded football players to return for one more season to the school – ask Trevor Keegan and Blake Corum about the gracious people at Champions Circle. If the Wolverines are to make up for their shortcomings, they must devote themselves to men’s basketball with the same fervor.

If Michigan can improve on its NIL, it may be able to hold onto its stars regardless of how its NIL compares to other teams. Its retention problem has become an unsolvable depth issue, thus progress is required there.

The Wolverines have kept three players from 2022 and one from 2021 out of its last two freshmen classes. As a result, when the starters exit the court, there is no one to finish the lineup. In the second half, opponents can completely overwhelm Michigan due to their lack of depth. This is a roster creation problem as much as a strategy problem. Depth is just as important as effort.

“I might use my walk-ons,” Howard stated following the Rutgers game. Since I am aware of their concern. They should provide most of what we have requested, in my opinion. Everybody has it dialed in.
Howard may be somewhat to blame for shallow rosters, but changing coaching staff won’t magically solve the problem. George Washington III, a guard, is the sole rookie this year because Papa Kante, a signee, was not accepted. Just three students have committed to the incoming 2024 class, which will replace six seniors and graduate students. Put differently, get used to a small bench.
A major obstacle for Michigan is the admissions issue, which prevents a number of players from enrolling. Although Kante and Caleb Love may have changed the team’s lineup this season, they reportedly had trouble being admitted as freshmen and transfers, respectively.

Even though Howard should have been aware of these problems prior to making offers, he is powerless to alter the University’s admissions requirements. The complex admissions procedure isn’t entirely obvious, though.

Whether Howard or someone else is in charge, Michigan won’t be competitive unless it does a lot of recruiting. It is imperative that Michigan addresses these issues promptly. The only other solutions available at this point, which are to always rely on the portal where admissions restrict them to graduate transfers, haven’t worked.

Since taking over as coach, Howard has given in to the pressure to use transfer fixes to bolster his roster’s competitiveness. He has hobbled through a poor roster using Fix-a-Flat rather than changing a tire that has been flat for a while. With that, he alienated transfers like Collins and Isaiah Barnes who may have moved into more senior positions. The Wolverines have been anything but stable since adding players to the roster through transfers, which has left Michigan stuck in Power Five purgatory.

Even while a new coach could make better play calls in the end or inspire more dedication from a disgruntled and dissatisfied team, that would only solve half of the issue. Even while he might address some of the most pressing problems, the truth is that this Wolverines team wouldn’t be a contender with a legend like Mike Krzyzewski in the bench. They are not benefiting from Howard’s leadership, but it is not the only one.

Furthermore, Manuel says he has no intention of switching leaders anytime soon, even though Howard still has two seasons remaining on his contract and underwent a significant cardiac operation during this season.

“We must not minimize the experiences that Juwan has had on a personal level,” Manuel stated. “It is also a source of concern and emphasis for me that he is doing well, that the team is assisting him, and that he is overcoming this obstacle.” The student athletes don’t like where we are at the moment, and neither do the staff or he. On the team, though, I have not noticed a lack of effort.

Howard may be held accountable for all of these problems, but eliminating him from the picture in the middle of the season won’t make this team’s problems go away. It will not stop the collapses. The Wolverines will remain in last place despite it.

That’s an admission of deeper systemic problems than the one at the top, not a long-term endorsement of Howard.

Feel free to ask for clarification, suggestions, or a coaching adjustment. However, there is much more to Michigan’s issues than Juwan Howard, so don’t think that they only stem from him.