CBB Coaching Carousel: Another High-Major Job Opens as Juwan Howard is Out at Michigan

Michigan parted ways with men’s basketball head coach Juwan Howard on Friday afternoon, the University announced. The Wolverines now enter the coaching carousel, becoming the eighth high-major job to be available, joining the likes of Louisville, Ohio State, West Virginia, Oklahoma State and others.

BREAKING NEWS: U-M Director of Athletics Warde Manuel has announced that a leadership change would be made in basketball with Juwan Howard not returning next season.

Release | https://t.co/N2QU7adNM3#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/yxDIAgkgfk

— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) March 15, 2024

Howard, a member of the legendary ‘Fab Five’ team from the early-1990s that reached back-to-back Final Fours, returned to Michigan in 2019 after his professional playing days and an assistant role with the Miami Heat ended. Howard coached the Wolverines for five years, taking the team to the NCAA Tournament in 2021 and 2022. Michigan earned the 1-seed in the 2021 season, reaching the Elite-8 before falling to UCLA.

Last offseason, Michigan lost Hunter Dickinson to the transfer portal, as he went to Kansas. Howard and his staff tried retooling the team but struck out on a Caleb Love commitment due to admissions. Howard dealt with some health problems this year and Michigan finished the season 8-24 and in last place in the Big Ten Conference.

This now adds Michigan to the list of big brands in search of their next head coach. As far as WVU’s place among that list, West Virginia AD Wren Baker talked highly about the WVU Basketball job while speaking with the media hours after announcing the Mountaineers are moving on from interim HC Josh Eilert.

“This is a great basketball job. I mean a really, really strong program. Tremendous tradition, we’ve done it with multiple coaches over the years. Great facilities, I think it’s certainly a top 10, maybe top five basketball practice facility. The [WVU] Coliseum is an awesome venue,” Baker said to the media.

WV Sports Now created a list of Power-5 jobs that are opened and could compete with WVU for other coaches. This list will be updated throughout the offseason.

**note: this list incorporates the 2024 conference realignment