OT: Juwan Howard throws "punch"; Suspended for remainder of season

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

That and my PPV idea.

Watch on YouTube

If I die fightin or tryna fight, THANK GOD and Tell Conor McGregor THANKS...red panty nights 4 ever done changed a bum life



On the for real, I doubt a big name wants their ass handed them worse than Nate Robinson (who I ADMIRE and Woodley) Win or Lose I definitely show up. Geez. Easy

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Yeah I'm trying to see where the other coach "grabs him and yanks him" and I don't see that at all. I do agree he stepped in front of him.
Howard did address the coach first, and then the other coach stepped in front of him to reply. He did get close to him. I don't see him "yanking him." I do see Howard waving his finger at the other coach as well. Both seem kind of belligerent, but it's also a loud and heated atmosphere.
Honestly I think if it was left at that confrontation, you would just chalk it up as both guys were heated, it was an intense conference rivalry game, and sports get emotional sometimes. We've all been there and I think most would be inclined to let it go on both sides.
But what escalated the situation to a dangerous and truly unsportsmanlike situation was Howard putting hands on the other guy in an unmistakeably hostile manner. That was a leap over the line of what's acceptable, so in that sense, it was pretty one sided.
Howard is the reason this situation got out of control, and he put his entire team in a bad situation.
That's just poor leadership. He might be a great Xs and Os guy for all I know, but head coach is at its core a leadership position.

How do you miss it? Dude clearly stops Howard by grabbing his right elbow and then grabs his wrist/hand when Howard tries to step around him.

what I see (and saw watching live yesterday):
- Howard walks past Gard without stopping and says "I'll remember that" to him
- Gard puts his hand on Howard's arm/shoulder to stop him and starts talking to him to explain why he called the TO
- Howard grabs Gard by the shirt, then lets go and points his finger in Gard's face
- both coaches appear to be agitated at this point and assistants and players get between them
- both coaches initially do the right thing and allow themselves to be separated, although they're both obviously still angry and you can see Howard saying F you to Gard and something like "yeah I said it"; Gard's probably saying similar nice things but you can't see his face
- there's some pushing and shoving to get everybody apart, but both sides appear to be moving towards resolving the confrontation
- Howard pushes back into the middle of things and throws an overhead punch/slap at a Wisconsin assistant coach
- all hell breaks loose

Gard may have touched Howard first, but Howard is the one who initiated violence and took a swing - at a completely different coach than Gard, one who never touched him - and needlessly escalated the situation way out of control.

a head coach of a major university has to show far better emotional control, leadership and maturity than what Howard did. Nobody on this board (or very, very few of us at least) would be able to throw a punch at a coworker or other professional on the job under similar circumstances and stay employed, and Juwan shouldn't be treated any differently. He might keep his job due to politics, but he should at least be suspended for a significant amount of time and be counseled that any other incident of him losing his temper publicly will be the end of him.

and any other coach should be treated the exact same way for similar actions. There's a standard of behavior for someone in a position like that, and this ain't it.

Back on topic

[The4thHorseman]

Just got a notice saying Michigan suspended him for the rest of the 'regular' season.

[Ayt]

nothing significant will happen to Howard. he's politically untouchable right now. different standards. already happened once and nothing happened. have to treat these delicate babies with the kid gloves or get canceled

[KembaWalker]

nothing significant will happen to Howard. he's politically untouchable right now. different standards. already happened once and nothing happened. have to treat these delicate babies with the kid gloves or get canceled

5 meaningless games for a team thats already toast, didn't even have the balls to suspend him for the conference tourney
slap on the wrist for a repeat offender

[og15]

nothing significant will happen to Howard. he's politically untouchable right now. different standards. already happened once and nothing happened. have to treat these delicate babies with the kid gloves or get canceled

Well....that aged terribly

Oh, nevermind, he was supposed to be suspended for longer to be significant I see

[KembaWalker]

nothing significant will happen to Howard. he's politically untouchable right now. different standards. already happened once and nothing happened. have to treat these delicate babies with the kid gloves or get canceled

Well....that aged terribly

not at all, see above

[og15]

Well....that aged terribly

not at all, see above

I see, well, I guess since you didn't specify what significant is in that post, then there's flexibility to determine what that looks like

[KembaWalker]

Well....that aged terribly

not at all, see above

I see, well, I guess since you didn't specify what significant is in that post, then there's flexibility to determine what that looks like

i don't think 5 regular season games with no other fines, and returning for the postseason is very significant, do you?
Sounds like a vacation to me

[Slacktard]

not at all, see above

I see, well, I guess since you didn't specify what significant is in that post, then there's flexibility to determine what that looks like

i don't think 5 regular season games with no other fines, and returning for the postseason is very significant, do you?
Sounds like a vacation to me

I've seen players get longer suspensions than that. A coach needs to be held to a higher standard if they start/try to start a fight and actually throw a physical punch.

[Duke4life831]

Ya I wouldn't call a 5 game suspension all that crazy of a suspension. Suspending him for "the rest of the season" sounds a lot worse than it really is.

He will be back for the conference tourney and NIT.

[dockingsched]

Something I often don’t understand in situations like these that involve sports, is why people never face charges for physically attacking someone.

[hoosierdaddy34]

I see, well, I guess since you didn't specify what significant is in that post, then there's flexibility to determine what that looks like

i don't think 5 regular season games with no other fines, and returning for the postseason is very significant, do you?
Sounds like a vacation to me

I've seen players get longer suspensions than that. A coach needs to be held to a higher standard if they start/try to start a fight and actually throw a physical punch.

He didn’t throw a punch. Show me where he had a closed fist.

[hoosierdaddy34]

Seems about right. Last 5 games of the year when a team is fighting to stay in the tournament is pretty significant but it’s not over-reactionary.

[Slacktard]

i don't think 5 regular season games with no other fines, and returning for the postseason is very significant, do you?
Sounds like a vacation to me

I've seen players get longer suspensions than that. A coach needs to be held to a higher standard if they start/try to start a fight and actually throw a physical punch.

He didn’t throw a punch. Show me where he had a closed fist.

If you want to parse words then fine. I think a coach should be held to a higher standard if they attempt to physically hit another coach with an attack.

[hoosierdaddy34]

I've seen players get longer suspensions than that. A coach needs to be held to a higher standard if they start/try to start a fight and actually throw a physical punch.

He didn’t throw a punch. Show me where he had a closed fist.

If you want to parse words then fine. I think a coach should be held to a higher standard if they attempt to physically hit another coach with an attack.

I think there is a massive difference in intent. A punch can kill someone. Swiping/slapping at someone has the intent of sending them a message that you are not in the mood. Intent does matter here when dishing out punishment. And I agree he should be punished but there was no intent to injure the other party. I think a 5 game suspension seems about right.

[HotelVitale]

Howard is not head coach material.How can he possibly discipline or hold any of his own players accountable when he can't even behave like a civil adult himself?

Not trying to be provocative but lotta good leaders are people who aren’t saintly and struggle with control sometimes. Makes them more releatable to young guys who are also a little raw emotionally or just generally hot tempered, shows that they understand it’s hard to keep cool and that they’re all trying to do that for the team and for their own personal growth etc. (Then again I work with people in prison and freshly out so maybe got a skewed perspective on leadership.)

Which leaders are you referring to? Genuinely interested to know.

Thinking of a lot of street leaders—guys in the hood who can be credible on the streets, even politicians and preachers etc around here can go into that mode. Or else folks like addiction counselors who actually need to inspire and teach people, or even a fair amount of the good teacher and coaches I’ve had. It’s a common thing in my experience, though I’ve also had a certain type of experience. And tbh I respond better to that than the polished, kind of empty leaders who have their whole ish figured out.

[Que Rico]

Should be fired but won't because.......you know

[mccluskey]

He didn’t throw a punch. Show me where he had a closed fist.

If you want to parse words then fine. I think a coach should be held to a higher standard if they attempt to physically hit another coach with an attack.

I think there is a massive difference in intent. A punch can kill someone. Swiping/slapping at someone has the intent of sending them a message that you are not in the mood. Intent does matter here when dishing out punishment. And I agree he should be punished but there was no intent to injure the other party. I think a 5 game suspension seems about right.

I've argued about this more than I really care to, but I think this is a bad argument to try to make what Howard did seem less shameful.

play word games about what he did all you want, he still hit an opposing coach - a coach who never even touched him - in the face out of anger. He came back and did this even after he had walked away from the initial confrontation and things seemed about to calm down, and by doing so he started a brawl and put his players in danger. And he didn't even have the self awareness or good judgment to apologize or take any accountability for his actions afterwards.

to me thats crossing a line you can't cross as a head coach and showing a terrible lack of leadership by putting your players in harm's way. I think this suspension is pretty weak - it should've included the postseason - but it's about what I expected.

[azcatz11]

Man I’m really surprised he wasn’t canned considering this isn’t an isolated incident. Hopefully he goes to anger management classes or something. If there’s another incident on the sidelines and he injures someone Michigan is going to have a hell of a law suit.