Report: Michigan ‘very interested’ in speaking to Juwan Howard for HC vacancy

We are heading into the end of the first week of the Michigan Men’s Basketball head coaching search and while many of the names mentioned as fits for the job have respectfully declined, one of the early leading candidates has confirmed he has heard from the Wolverines.

U-M alum and Miami Heat assistant coach Juwan Howard has spoken was Turnkey Sports, the search firm involved with the coaching hire, and has been informed that athletic director Warde Manuel is “very interested” in speaking to him about the job, according to a report from ESPN’s Jordan Schultz.

Howard does not have any head coaching experience, but has been an assistant with the Heat since his playing career ended in 2013 and has been one of the more sought-after candidates during the NBA hiring cycle. He was also famously a member of the “Fab Five” at Michigan, along with Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson, who made back-to-back Final Four runs in the 1990s coached by Steve Fisher.

Michigan Basketball’s next head coach replaces John Beilein, the all-time winningest in the history of the program, who left Ann Arbor earlier this week to take the job in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers.