Fans are divided about Juwan’s future as the head coach after a turbulent season that has seen the Wolverines go out of the NCAA tournament. This is the first time since 2015 a men’s NCAA is unveiled without Michigan.

A team coach contributes to over 30% of the team’s success or failure. For those planning to place their money on Michigan, Howard’s past performance is likely to impact how they make NBA picks and predictions.

After a successful 2021-2022 career, Howard took over from John Beilein who joined the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Everyone had hoped that Juwan Howard’s fourth year as the coach would steer the Michigan Basketball Program forward. However, this didn’t come to pass. The season has been one of the most disappointing in the program’s history.

Having started the year with a solid 5-1 round, the Wolverines went on a losing streak. The club lost six out of its 10 contests. It was very disappointing to record a 63-61 loss to Central Michigan while in Arbor.

The season progressed but things just got worse with other losses such as:

• Michigan blew a seven-point lead during overtime to Illinois
• Lost a 12-point lead in the second half to Indiana
• Wolverine lost a nine-point lead with under two minutes to Iowa
• They blew a 12-point halftime lead to Virginia

Everyone could notice that the Wolverines had serious issues and needed to get back to the drawing board. To some critics, Michigan was sure to miss out on the NCAA tournament.

After a 62-50 loss to Rutgers, in the Big Ten Tournament, Howard assured that his team will continue playing even when it means participating in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).

With the team not getting a bid for March Madness, the Wolverines accepted an invite to the NIT. However, the team missed playing with Howard’s son, Jett Howard who had an ankle injury making Joey Baker start.

Before accepting the invite, he revealed that he would like to see the team playing and is looking forward to coaching them during the postseason.

Competing in the NIT is a gamble. Even if the Wolverines win the NIT championship, few fans would celebrate. On the flip side, a loss would fuel more outrage on the coach who is already under strong criticism regarding his ability to take the team forward.

Many fans have spent several days debating whether Howard is capable of moving the team forward. With Howard at the helm, many are speculating whether he’ll end up like Jim Harbaugh after a fourth season as head coach.

In an online poll that had over 2,000 people participating, the results revealed that 51 percent of Michigan fans feel the team is better off without Juwan Howard at the moment.

On the other hand, 39 percent believe Howard can still move the team forward. The other 10 percent believe it’s high time Howard threw in the towel.

There’s no doubt that most criticism directed at Howard is warranted. However, let’s not put him on the hot seat yet. Although the 2022-23 season was painful, the program has recorded deep tournament runs. It even captured a conference championship with Howard at the helm.

Whether with Howard or not, the signs are clear that the program must show drastic improvement. The glaring issue is that the team struggled with similar issues that only got worse this season. Will Howard fix them next year?

It’s up to Howard to figure out how to prevent the team from trending in the wrong direction. The onus is on him to see the team bounce back next season.