That was weird right from the jump at the introductory press conference right thru the off season before his debut. I get wanting to keep a secret/unknown at that point, but he was over the top. All it seemed we got out of him was “positionless”. I guess by positionless he meant not having guards on his roster?
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When looking at this issue, just contrast Juwan and Izzo.
Izzo essentially has an open door and line with the media. Shoot, I remember on the pod BQ commented more than once he would just “text Izzo” to get an answer the a question. Then he goes out on the court, acts like a raving lunatic and everybody chuckles…“oh, that Tom Izzo…gotta love the intensity”. But he gets that pass because he has essentially paid off the media with his accessibility.
Juwan is overly closed off and guarded. Access is beyond minimal and looks like he is having as much fun as a root canal. On the court (besides the obvious incidents) is really quite engaging and personable it seems like. But in times like this when he needs to rally the troops and have people on his side, he doesn’t have that support and worse, is still trying to keep people at arms length.
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I think there’s a wide range of ways to play it. Izzo is sort of an extreme example – open locker rooms, open practices, rambles for 30 minutes off the record, basically all of the old school stuff.
That also comes with a lot of extra control and some other old school aspects.
I mean, you say old school and obviously that is a description of Izzo but I think he is fairly progressive here. In this era of marketing/branding/social media you would think a guy like Juwan would be more on the forefront with that.
His perspective is unique with the Fab 5 and the raw deal they got from the media to being a long time pro and maybe that closed him off. But he has a story and could use the media as much more of an ally than he is
“Progressive” by modern standards is pretty clearly controlling your own message and putting it out through channels you control, which is what you’ll see at a lot of other schools.
I’m not defending Howard and how he uses the media at all, but I’m just pointing it out that you are comparing him the one of only a few guys left in the sport that does it “the way it used to be” essentially.
There’s a more balanced answer of just being somewhat more opening and dealing with pressers and using them to sell your program a bit.
I would bet a lot of money that whoever the next coach is isn’t going open lockerroom and all of that jazz.
If you can’t win the games, win the handshake line
If you can’t win the handshake line, win the press conference
If you can’t win the press conference, win the practice gym
If you can’t win the practice gym, win the classroom
If you can’t win the classroom, win the one golf outing in the summer that your fundraising people ask you attend that you refuse to participate in
If you can’t win the one golf outing in the summer that your fundraising people ask you to attend that you refuse to participate in, please get away from our program
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The only way Juwan can save his job is to win the BTT
you’re a strange poster
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Here’s my thing on Juwan’s PR side. If he win games, no one cares. Belicheck was the perfect example of this. Harbaugh also.
But, the purpose of your job isn’t just the on-court stuff. I think a lot of coaches, especially Juwan, wish it was. The purpose is also to attract players to your school. To get fans excited to come watch you play. To build confidence with your bosses that you’re worth keeping around and giving a raise. To encourage boosters to funnel money into your NIL funds. You don’t have to do that stuff in the media or with public access to the program - but it can absolutely be used as a tool to do so and potentially makes life easier.
I think Juwan is a really interesting cool dude that knows a lot about basketball and could have people eating out of his hand. But he refuses to do that except in very rare situations. I get sick of Izzo’s behavior, but people love him and overlook a lot of his sins on and off the court. Players continue to want to play for him despite those things too.
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