At least he owns the decision. This is his first high profile hire. It’s gonna define his time here. He’s joined at the hip with Juwan. Good on him for acknowledging it.
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You should share that with all of the college and professional coaches who are still moving in the opposite direction.
Warde has me ready to run through a brick wall right now jeez… i love this program so much.
Juwan’s emotion meant a lot to me even though he kind of fumbled the Q+A you could tell he was just so overwhelmed by the moment and is so deeply happy to be here
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Yeah, he was pretty terrified. I would be too. It’s definitely jarring when you’re so used to Beilein’s ease and comfort with media, but it sure was charming. Juwan will find his feet with media soon enough.
I liked Warde’s answer about the banners, though it was a little awkward I thought when he was defending the risk, and all that.
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Somone(possibly Dylan) mentioned that media wasn’t allowed to interview Heat assistants often. He’s rusty I’m sure, and was obviously overwhelmed by emotions and all the stuff on his plate.
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I don’t mean to spoil people’s excitement, but that presser did not instill any confidence for me about how Juwan is going to perform as head coach. Did he very clearly show his love and excitement for the position and the program? Absolutely. But I thought he didn’t really answer some of the questions posed and certainly gave zero information about his X’s and O’s or recruiting philosophy. Just that they will do all they can to put the best team on the court.
That, plus Warde’s comments about how he didn’t understand pick & roll or anything on the court and they spent almost all of their interview time talking about who he was as a person, why he wanted to come to Michigan, intangibles about his background, etc. was concerning, in my opinion. This doesn’t speak to how well Juwan will or will not do, of course, but those seem like very important topics given the hire. Warde’s criteria should primarily be who is the best basketball coach for the job, not who is the best person or loves the program the most.
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gobluemd16 go back and find Coach Beilein’s presser when he was hired, neither did he. Why would he mention that especially when he doesn’t have his whole staff hired?
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You have to trust Warde found out who Juwan is as a basketball coach given his references. Spoelstra spoke highly on his basketball knowledge. Plus, it’s kind of obvious on X and Os. If he’s receiving interest for NBA Head Coaching jobs, he knows what he’s doing. IMO no concerns.
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I think expecting chalkboard talk in an intro presser probably isn’t realistic. The point of this was marketing.
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Didn’t Warde mention that he asked Eric Spoelstra about Juwan’s X’s and O’s?
It was a weird, awkward press conference. Both Juwan and Warde have very clearly heard the criticism. I didn’t expect him to call himself a blank slate certainly when it comes to Xs and Os, but he’ll find his footing with media and soon enough surely we’ll be getting the less-human/more-polished answers that are more the norm. He’s more of a blank slate when it comes to press conferences than he is with Xs and Os. You wouldn’t expect any coach to give a substantive answer in that setting anyways, talking about whether they’ll play four out or switch all screens. Most coaches in that setting answer that question with generalities anyways.
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I think you make a good point. That said, so much of college coaching is recruiting and getting the players to play for you night in and night out. Do you have any doubt in his ability to do that? I don’t. I have also heard enough to believe Juwan is a strong technician of the game. He will get the X’s and O’s. I think the one comment Warde made that made a lot of sense…let him grow into the role. By that I believe he means that it might take a month or a year to really find his footing, but let him find it. Once he does, Warde believes this guy can do great things. I agree with him. We will have higher rated talent here with Juwan vs Beilien IMO. He turned down the Associate head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves to be the Michigan coach. I think he will do just fine coaching.
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You’re not wrong in that nothing in that presser should make anyone more or less confident in how he will do. Hoke’s presser comes to mind. And it’s not surprising that Warde and Juwan didn’t talk much Xs and Os. If Warde doesn’t understand them then there is no real purpose to delve into it. He basically has to take Spoelstra at his word. I’m not sure any ADs could really dive into Xs and Os with their candidates. I doubt Bill Martin did any of that when he stumbled on JB.
But I think it’s fine if people are excited. It was a cool presser to watch.
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Just as an FYI, this was his response to the question about his coaching philosophy: “Well, it still remains to be seen fellas, right [looked towards team in the back]? But I can tell you this, one thing about me – I am humble and I don’t have all the answers. We are going to try to figure out solutions together – my staff, the players will be active participants in finding the solutions. We will create this identity together and we will have fun doing it together.”
I am not saying delve deep into X’s and O’s or anything, but if you listen to other coach’s pressers they say “we are going to play fast, emphasis on X or Y, etc.” Juwan’s answer seemed more like his ideal style or goal for how his teams look is quite undefined.
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Honestly, just strikes me as someone who’s going to adapt to his personnel. It’s kind of hard to give a specific answer when you haven’t done it before compared to other coaches.
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"We’re gonna play fast, and we’re gonna play hard. We’re gonna go out there and represent this fine institution with all the pride and the determination that… – that’s the point in the press conference at which I wish somebody would interrupt with ``can you say something original please?"
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I think he wants to see the players firsthand and base his style around all his players. Play to their strengths. If he says “we are gonna play fast.” When this team as a whole may not be better suited to playing fast, it already will put people in a WTF moment when fans see they aren’t playing fast once games start. If he gave answers like that it kind of puts him down that path of “I need to play this way”. That’s sort of how I interpreted his answer. I think it was the right way to do it because it allows him the ability of not being held accountable to playing fast if he said he wants to play fast in the interview, or slow if he said slow. He’s going to see what his players look like in person, get an idea and try to cater to all their strengths.
That would fit the mold of him being called a “players coach.” He wants to talk with the players and staff and see what they think and take into account their opinions and what he sees himself. Being willing to adjust to the strengths of the current roster, rather than having to play fast or slow, or through only pick and rolls or dribble drives or whatever sort of constricts the team in some ways. Each year new freshman come in and could be better suited to something different. Being willing to tweak your schemes to fit each player is big in trying to get the most out of each individual player.
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Coaching philosophy does not equal X’s and O’s. Juwan’s answer that he will involve his players in finding solutions is a great answer IMO.
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This is trying to dive way too deep into this press conference but it could very well mean he’s going to coach to his teams best traits and not stick to a set mold like a JB or Izzo
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It’s good to be adaptable, but there should still be an overarching identity to “Juwan Howard basketball”, and he sounded like a very nervous man without a plan.
Will just chalk it up to first press conference jitters and assume the best for the time being.
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