Jeff Goodman provides detail on Juwan Howard confrontation, thoughts on punishment

After Michigan reportedly said it would review the alleged conflict between Juwan Howard and strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson, college basketball insider Jeff Goodman provided the latest on the incident.

Howard and Sanderson allegedly had a confrontation at practice but no punches were thrown. Howard has a zero-tolerance policy for such incidents following a 2022 incident when he struck a Wisconsin assistant coach.

Goodman revealed what sources told him regarding the alleged blow up between Howard and Sanderson.

“Right before practice started Jace Howard was in the training room and he’s been out all year,” Goodman said on The Field of 68.. “And he’s frustrated and he starts to really get into the trainer. He’s frustrated and he starts almost berating the trainer …

“From what I was told it didn’t matter who it was, whether it’s a trainer, whoever was there at that time, he just let his frustrations roll out and they rolled out on on the trainer and the strength coach Jon Sanderson, who’s been there for a long time dating back to the John Beilein era, who is six-eight, 270 played … got pissed off because he saw how Jace was treating the trainer. And he basically said something to the effect of, that’s why the ‘effing’ culture is the way it is or something to that effect.” 

Once Sanderson allegedly started yelling, Juwan Howard stepped in.

“Well, Juwan Howard heard this,” Goodman said. “They were walking onto the court right before practice when this happened. Juwan Howard heard this and he obviously got pissed off, and there were no punches thrown … I was told they were toe to toe, chest to chest, right up in each other and had to be restrained. Bunch of the players saw this … Sanders took some time away from the program, he did not go to the game at Iowa. Juwan Howard was still at the game in his normal seat of last few weeks, which was the first assistant chair, basically … 

“And I was also told that Juwan never addressed the situation with the players or anything or hadn’t as of 24 hours ago. Maybe that’s changed now. Obviously, Michigan is looking into the situation now according to my sources, and Juwan also has a no tolerance policy based on his history.”

Jeff Goodman provides details on Juwan Howard incident

As far as the future is concerned with Juwan Howard, Goodman doesn’t expect a firing this season. After the season?

Well, that’s a different story. But the situation remains fluid as of Wednesday.

“You know, is there a lot of speculation with Juwan Howard, how long would this go,” Goodman said. “Is this something that could cost Juwan his job right now? And certainly with a zero tolerance policy, who knows? I would say this Rob, you know, to me Juwan Howard is still one of their own, and you’re in the middle of the season and he’s coming off heart surgery. I would be surprised, not shocked, but surprised if he doesn’t make it through the season.”

If Howard survives the campaign, the success on the court could determine his future. But that on-court success has gone downhill.

“Now after the year I can absolutely see something happening where they go in a different direction because this program has gone steadily downhill quickly,” Goodman said. “They didn’t make the tournament last year with two first round picks and an all American candidate in Hunter Dickinson and this year after, you know, a win against St. John’s where it (was a good start to the season, it hasn’t been great).”