I decided to let things stew a bit before giving out any kind of knee-jerk reaction to what happened after the Wisconsin game last night. Let me first preface this by saying that I am firmly NOT on the fire Juwan train as some people were yesterday. More on why I feel this way in a bit.
Here are the facts
- Greg Gard should be condemned for stoking the flames and not letting Howard walk by.
- Wisconsin's assistant should be condemned for putting hands on an opposing player and further stoking the flames. On top of that, other staff members should be condemned for trying to get into the center of an argument that had nothing to do with them.
- Juwan Howard should be condemned for striking, swinging, punching, slapping—whatever verbiage you want to use—an opposing coach.
All of the above can be true.
Regardless of what happened, as you need one of the above events for all of them to happen, Howard should not be displaying those kinds of actions as a leader of a program and Michigan, and the Big Ten to a certain degree has every right to make an example out of him and to show that these type of things can't be tolerated. No man is perfect, emotions can get the best of you which results in unfortunate events as we saw yesterday. However, you have to have some sort of self-control when America is watching you. Howard would be the first person to admit that and the first person to accept his punishment, whatever that may be. You simply can't do what he did and it can't be tolerated.
This is why I feel the best thing for the university to do is to suspend Howard for the rest of the regular season. We all know about the Big Ten rules when it comes to suspensions. The fine should be a significant number and the athletic department should go above and beyond the maximum punishment to prove that it's serious about not allowing something like this to happen again and that it cannot be tolerated.
As for others in the media calling for Howard's head, it's ridiculous. I've seen NCAA infractions and other off-court events defended by talking heads before, the same people who sung of Howard's praises and how great of a person he is. While people certainly have their right to criticize what happened on Sunday, calling for Howard's job in an age where people think losing work solves the root issue of anything is ridiculous.
Howard is Warde Manuel's guy and will continue to be into the future. One mistake, albeit a temporary black eye, does not define a man nor does it shape his character. How Howard responds to the events that transpired on Sunday will ultimately define his tenure in Ann Arbor. You cannot expect someone who reached the peak of his anger to show any signs of being rational when immediately rushed to a microphone mere minutes after what transpired. That's ridiculous.
Manuel, and the university, should make their intentions clear: There's a zero-tolerance policy for what happened on Sunday and anything close to what was displayed will NEVER happen again. If it does, then you have every right to terminate Howard's employment.
This certainly puts a damper on a stretch run the Wolverines desperately need to be competitive in as the NCAA Tournament nears. It should be doing so without its head coach for the rest of the way.
How Howard responds to this unfortunate situation will ultimately decide how the program moves forward. My expectation is that we'll see a gracious Howard accept his lumps from the university and public opinion. He'll come out on the other side after a lesson learned.
You cannot allow the past to repeat itself. For now, you move on and learn about how to control your emotions in smarter ways and detach yourself from a situation that could've been avoided, advice which Wisconsin should heed as well.
Here are the facts
- Greg Gard should be condemned for stoking the flames and not letting Howard walk by.
- Wisconsin's assistant should be condemned for putting hands on an opposing player and further stoking the flames. On top of that, other staff members should be condemned for trying to get into the center of an argument that had nothing to do with them.
- Juwan Howard should be condemned for striking, swinging, punching, slapping—whatever verbiage you want to use—an opposing coach.
All of the above can be true.
Regardless of what happened, as you need one of the above events for all of them to happen, Howard should not be displaying those kinds of actions as a leader of a program and Michigan, and the Big Ten to a certain degree has every right to make an example out of him and to show that these type of things can't be tolerated. No man is perfect, emotions can get the best of you which results in unfortunate events as we saw yesterday. However, you have to have some sort of self-control when America is watching you. Howard would be the first person to admit that and the first person to accept his punishment, whatever that may be. You simply can't do what he did and it can't be tolerated.
This is why I feel the best thing for the university to do is to suspend Howard for the rest of the regular season. We all know about the Big Ten rules when it comes to suspensions. The fine should be a significant number and the athletic department should go above and beyond the maximum punishment to prove that it's serious about not allowing something like this to happen again and that it cannot be tolerated.
As for others in the media calling for Howard's head, it's ridiculous. I've seen NCAA infractions and other off-court events defended by talking heads before, the same people who sung of Howard's praises and how great of a person he is. While people certainly have their right to criticize what happened on Sunday, calling for Howard's job in an age where people think losing work solves the root issue of anything is ridiculous.
Howard is Warde Manuel's guy and will continue to be into the future. One mistake, albeit a temporary black eye, does not define a man nor does it shape his character. How Howard responds to the events that transpired on Sunday will ultimately define his tenure in Ann Arbor. You cannot expect someone who reached the peak of his anger to show any signs of being rational when immediately rushed to a microphone mere minutes after what transpired. That's ridiculous.
Manuel, and the university, should make their intentions clear: There's a zero-tolerance policy for what happened on Sunday and anything close to what was displayed will NEVER happen again. If it does, then you have every right to terminate Howard's employment.
This certainly puts a damper on a stretch run the Wolverines desperately need to be competitive in as the NCAA Tournament nears. It should be doing so without its head coach for the rest of the way.
How Howard responds to this unfortunate situation will ultimately decide how the program moves forward. My expectation is that we'll see a gracious Howard accept his lumps from the university and public opinion. He'll come out on the other side after a lesson learned.
You cannot allow the past to repeat itself. For now, you move on and learn about how to control your emotions in smarter ways and detach yourself from a situation that could've been avoided, advice which Wisconsin should heed as well.
