After twelve years facing off against John Beilein, Tom Izzo will have a new adversary to square off against in Ann Arbor. The University of Michigan will officially be signing former Wolverine, All-Star, and NBA Champion Juwan Howard to be their new Men’s Basketball coach.
Howard joined Michigan as a player in 1991 and was part of the infamous ‘Fab Five’ team. He then had a successful NBA career, making one All-Star team and one All-NBA team before eventually winning two NBA Championships with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013. He is still friends with Dwyane Wade and Lebron James from that time, and the two were vocal supporters of Howard’s signing by Michigan:
Many have speculated if this could help Michigan land Zaire Wade or Lebron James Jr. once it is time for them to enter college. I don’t think MSU fans will need to worry much about that, as I am expecting both players to go straight to the NBA if the hype around them is as real as we have all heard.
Beilein did a good job at Michigan (yes, even as a Spartan fan, I can say that) but he still lost the overall battle with Izzo (Izzo was 14-9 against Beilein). It remains to be seen if Howard can sustain that level of success after spending the last few years as an assistant with the Miami Heat and Erik Spoelstra.
