Phil Martelli discusses Juwan Howard's mindset following suspension
Michigan associate head coach Phil Martelli, who formerly served as the head coach at St. Joe’s, will once again be leading a program, as he’s been named the Wolverines’ acting head coach while Juwan Howard serves his suspension.
Howard, of course, was suspended for the remainder of the regular season for his postgame scuffle following Michigan’s loss to Wisconsin on Sunday. Howard appeared to have thrown a punch at a Wisconsin assistant after the two exchanged heated words in the handshake line, prompting the suspension. In his first press conference following Howard’s timely suspension, Martelli addressed his headman’s mindset following his departure.
When asked if he will have verbal contact with Howard throughout his time as acting head coach, Martelli answered simply, “yes.”
“Juwan is my friend,” Martelli said. “I feel tremendously responsible to my friends to make sure they’re doing well. … Juwan is very remorseful, and today is a little better than yesterday.”
Martelli was also asked what Howard’s immediate reaction was following Sunday’s scuffle.
“(Howard) did not speak to the players on Sunday (immediately after the game),” Martelli said. “It was a very heartfelt text exchange very late at night on Sunday.”
More on Howard’s suspension as Martelli takes over
Howard’s latest on-court debacle wasn’t his first, either, perhaps informing the length of his latest suspension. Last season, when Michigan faced Mark Turgeon’s Maryland Terrapins in the Big Ten Tournament, Howard lost his cool at Turgeon, yelling choice words across the court during a stoppage of play. When Turgeon began jawing back — then stepped towards Howard — the Michigan head coach physically pushed his way towards Turgeon, and a shoving match ensued. Assistant coaches had to hold back Howard, who was ejected from the game following a double-technical.
In the waning minutes of Wisconsin’s win over Michigan on Sunday, Gard decided not to let the clock run and take the win as is. Instead, he called timeout and tried to get his Wisconsin Badgers to continue playing hard until the final whistle. That seemed to have irked Howard, who exchanged a few words with Gard and the Wisconsin coaching staff postgame. Shortly thereafter, players got involved with the pushing and shoving; after Howard and Gard started a shoving match, Howard appeared to have punched or slapped a Wisconsin assistant.
In his postgame interview, Gard explained what led to the fight on the sidelines. It was, in fact, the timeout — but Gard said there was reason for him to call it.
“Apparently, (Howard) didn’t like that I called a timeout to reset the 10 second call,” the Badgers coach said. “We only had four seconds to get the ball up the court and I didn’t want to put my backups in the game. I didn’t want to put them in that position of scrambling with only four seconds. So I took a timeout and it got us a new 10 seconds and helped them get organized to get the ball in. He did not like that when he came through the handshake line. I’ll leave it at that and the tape will show the rest.”
Immediately after the game, Howard did not apologize for his actions, according to local reporters.
“Juwan Howard has not apologized for anything that happened,” tweeted Michael Cohen of the Detroit Free Press. “Said he was upset about Wisconsin calling a timeout late in the game. He expressed that frustration to Greg Gard. Howard said Gard touched him during the postgame line and he felt the need to defend himself.”