Yeah, I think I said that the NCAA Tournament is what fans care about. If you look at things big picture, I would argue that the teams that consistently win the Big Ten will have the best chance to consistently make NCAA Tournament runs over time.
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I can see that argument, but the big point to me is that Juwan was being groomed to be a pro coach. I think he also knows the league much better and would only leave for a good opportunity as long as he’s happy at Michigan.
I can see that but juwan has certainly said all the right things. Also while I think juwan may find the nba super appealing, I think leaving your alma mater where he’ll be very well compensated and literally has a chance to be by far the most prominent figure in program history is easier said than done. If juwan was super obsessed with becoming an nba hc, I don’t think he would have left the heat situation.
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To be clear, I’m not talking about like next year or something like that. Just big picture as far as being a 20-year head coach as I think you put it in your original post.
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I didn’t want Prohm. I would’ve been okay with Mike White at the time, though, so what do I know? 
When the hire was made, a few of the most prominent mid-major successes had already moved up the ranks due to the lateness of JB’s departure, but I was disappointed that some others were not considered in the coaching search. I 100% preferred Howard to Cooley, Smart, and Jordan, however.
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I think that holds true for the regular season. But coaches make a huge difference in the postseason. Obviously you need stars, but X’s and O’s, rotations, matchups, timeout usage, situational play etc are big difference makers in the postseason. I think JB would have loved it. That’s when his detail Oriented approach would have paid off. But you gotta get there and I don’t think JB had the personality or management skills to navigate the looooong regular season and keep the players invested. It’s tough!
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Did Michael Curry say that at some point?
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Just imagine if it was Ed Cooley. He would have already been chosen over the fan bases first choice and a former player, first year would have almost assuredly been a disaster likely resulting in a fan base movement(very controversial one) to replace a prominent African American coach with a an old stogy white guy.
I think the Tennessee-Schiano situation could have played out here if Warde tried to hire Cooley over Juwan, lol.
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I try not to imagine anything about Ed Cooley, I struggle to find the will to watch Providence games. 
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Hey, he just kicked Shaka’s butt without Haliburton! 
(Never mind that Texas was missing Sims or that Iowa State lost a lot of games with Haliburton…)
They’re actually 20th on Torvik since 12/20! And 42nd overall! But man they dug themselves a hole.
316th in eFG% though 
This is why I’ll completely defer from judging just how good a coach we have for another year or two. A lot of coaches could probably have similar records with this roster (IMO), although Juwan does run what seems to be pretty damn good offensive scheme. X is just such a luxury for a first time head coach!
I absolutely LOVE Beilein, and was literally sad to see him go. No doubt, Juwan is better suited to land more talented recruits though, which can only help in keeping what JB built going.
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It is more just that I don’t find them to be a particularly entertaining style of basketball to watch.
I still want to hear the podcast about ums personnel and it’s fit in the flex
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Oh no doubt. Awful brand of basketball
I don’t think it would have been that bad.
Why do you hate Dylan? lol
Perhaps as soon as next year, they could have a day at U of M for Beilein and maybe name the court after him?
*stands on soapbox Every single high major D-1 coach can coach well. They all know their X’s and O’s at a way higher level than you and me. They got the jobs they are in for a reason. This seems obvious, but people sometimes forget that.
Coaching well and building a successful program are different things, though. I am pretty confident in watching Michigan and re-watching basically every high major game thus far that Juwan has quite a good handle on X’s and O’s and his philosophies are in the right place. But, literally every player on the roster was recruited by Beilein. You could argue this is as much a Simpson/Teske/Livers team as it is a Howard one. It would be borderline criminal given Simpson’s shortcomings (shooting, basically anything off-ball on offense) and his pronounced strengths (vision, ball screen passing, transition) to play any differently than Michigan is now. All of that is to say, I think most coaches would know Michigan should have a predominantly spread ball screen offense (Simpson with the ball, Teske rolling, Livers spaced). Almost all of Michigan’s actions end up with that result, at least as a primary option (pistol, double high ball screens, wedge, spain p&r, etc).
The fact that Juwan has played to those strengths, and in my opinion, made a smart decision to play a predominantly drop ball screen coverage on defense, is a really good sign and makes sense given personnel and trends with today’s basketball.
But, how will Howard do once Simpson (and Teske) aren’t on campus? Will the offensive attack look the same? Will he shape his strategy successfully to his personnel if he doesn’t have a strong passer in the pick & roll? How does he integrate high 5-stars who want to be on campus for only ~6 months? Does the success, or lack thereof, of “one-and-dones” impact his recruiting strategy moving forward, etc?
All of these are fair questions and ones we don’t know the answer to yet – questions that have more to do with building a program than having success in one year. Maybe Ed Cooley employs a flex offense because that’s all he knows, but maybe he thinks given recruiting limitations that it is the way he can get the most out of his personnel year-after-year.
This is all to say that it is clear to me that Howard can coach, but we still don’t know how he will do building a successful, sustainable program, where Beilein was obviously great.
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