Did you only publish the best responses? These were all serious answers with some substance, except for the funny one from Gasoway.
Lol @ Gasowayā¦
Haha Gasowayās comment is great. Showing there are two sides to the narrative that everyone is running with.
What??? I canāt believe Valenti is bashing the hire! 
Valenti is the worst. I stopped listening to 97.1 over a year ago and it was the best decision Iāve made. Itās unfortunate that he has the loudest mouthpiece in the Detroit sports media market.
This is the national voices thread, we should make a new one for regional voices just for this. 
Valenti is great - if you enjoy listening to a Sparty trying to make Michigan fans mad enough to call in to his show. And then only take the worst of the calls. Not my cup of tea.
Can we please not share what Valenti is saying here? Who cares.
That and the man has never shared a positive opinion on anything. Itās easy to appear like you know what youāre talking about if you only ever talk about who is no good and who is making mistakes etc. Can you think of something this guy has ever liked or approved of?
Valenti hates Michigan and just tries to anger Wolverine fans enough to call into his show. He knows nothing about what he is talking about
Not to be too catty, but sometimes when you get a glimpse of one of these disheveled radio āpersonalities,ā pretty much at work in their jammies, you just think. . . why am I wasting my time getting wrought up about such silly palaver? Their jobs? Sell soap; leave as little dead air as possible.
So, hereās my take. Juwan Howard, had he not gotten the Michigan job was going to become a head coachā¦in the NBA, basketballās highest level. It was going to happen sooner rather than later, but it was going to happen.
Now, everyone who is fortunate enough, and talented enough, and who works hard enough to become a head coach will get THEIR first head coaching job, somewhere, sometime. For some it comes early. John Beilein has always been a head coach, never an assistant. That is extremely rare. Most coaches work as an assistant for a period of time and THEN they get their first head coaching opportunity.
That is exactly what happened with Juwan. He had served his time as an assistant coach at the highest level of basketball. He was a valued and extremely competent assistant to Erik Spoelstra and was part of the Pat Riley coaching tree. He EARNED the opportunity to be a head coach, and he got that first head coaching opportunity at his alma mater. Iām excited about that, and I have no qualms this being his āfirst head coaching job.ā
Everyone, all of us, will experience the opportunity of doing something for the first time. The first time you stepped into the classroom as a teacher. The first time you stepped into the courtroom as an attorney. The first time you managed a business. The first time you performed a delicate surgery. The first time you lead a platoon into battle. Those are exciting opportunities. Typically the individual has done a lot to prepare for those opportunities. Juwan Howard has done much to prepare for and to earn the opportunity to be a head coach. He deserves this opportunity.
Coach Howard may make some mistakes along the way. My gosh, who among us has not, but he will learn and grow from those mistakes. He will have successes, too, but he will build upon those successes, just as he has built his life and his career on so many other successes. He is an impressive young man, and that SHINES through.
Am I bit concerned with his lack of ācollegeā coaching experience. Yes, I am. BUT, again, Juwan Howard has been successful at pretty much everything heās done in life. And itās not like he never played college basketball or been around and coached young players. Being the kind of man he is, and heās an outstanding man who has had great success in basketball and in life, he WILL figure it out. As I said, he may make a few mistakes, no he WILL make a few mistakes, a few missteps along the way, but he will learn from those, and be better. I donāt think those mistakes or missteps will be disastrous ones. Certainly not like botching your first delicate surgery!
Like others, I think itās important Juwan surround himself with good people who can help him navigate the rigors and the crushing work load of being a college basketball head coach, that IS important, but knowing who he is, I am confident he will do that. And I am confident that he will, as he says, āroll up my (his) sleeves and get to work.ā
Iām excited for our new Head Coach. Iām looking forward to seeing what the Juwan Howard era will bring to Michigan Basketball. There may be a misstep or two, we āmightā even lose a game we thought we should win, or take a step back initially, but Iām looking FORWARD to a bright future. Iām excited that Coach Howard got his first head coaching opportunity at Michigan. Go BLUE!!!
Howard certainly has more college basketball experience than any or all of the people weighing ināand has seen that process through a lot of kidsā eyes over time. The generic NBA-to-college doesnāt work take is, to me, pretty lacking in any obvious logic. Can he relate to and inspire young men? Seems so. Is he bright? Pretty obviouslyāhonors student in HS, first guy to finish his degree on time AFTER going to the league. Motivated? Obviously. Xs and Os? Defense-first mentality bound to translate; NBA pick and roll familiarity strongly suited to the foundation Beileinās laid down.
How much more second-guessing are we gonna do? Let him get on with the job!
NBA guys going to coach college teams doesnāt always work out. Neither does college guys going to coach college teams. Indeed, there are plenty of guys with years of college head coaching experience who are kind of mediocre. Who coach bad teams. So this meme that a guy canāt go from the NBA to college and be successful is wildly overdone.
Honestly, itās an excellent hire. Howard has an unimpeachable list of references, from young college aged NBA players he helped develop, to veteran NBA legends who won championships with him, to NBA coaches and executives who gave him his first coaching job and watched him grow.
Weāre very fortunate heās a Michigan alum who loves his Alma mater because how else would we ever poach a top-tier NBA assistant on the cusp of getting NBA head coaching jobs?
Somebody ask Valenti how much head coaching experience Izzo had before becoming stateās head coach XD