Warde Manuel confirms Juwan Howard's return as Michigan head coach, weighs in on altercation

As reported earlier, Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard will return to the the bench as head coach Saturday after spending the last several weeks in an assistant role. Associate Phil Martelli took the reins after Howard underwent heart surgery in December, during which the Wolverines went 5-5. They’re coming off a big road win at Iowa, a 90-80 affair in which sophomore big man Tarris Reed scored 19 points.

RELATED: Details of Michigan basketball ‘incident’ emerge — and so do questions

“Juwan Howard will return to the Michigan bench Saturday (Dec. 16) against Eastern Michigan in his total capacity as head coach,” athletic director Warde Manuel confirmed. “Coach Howard, his doctors, and our medical experts remain aligned in taking this next step as he recovers from a September heart procedure. 

“We greatly appreciate associate head coach Phil Martelli’s guidance of our program on an interim basis to start the season. I want to personally thank Phil for what he has done in the past few months to lead the program. We will continue to benefit from his wisdom moving forward.”

 Martelli said “everything is in Warde’s hands” when asked this afternoon if Howard would return following an incident with strength coach Jon Sanderson. Sanderson and Howard were “chest to chest” per reports after Sanderson questioned the team’s culture following an incident allegedly involving veteran forward Jace Howard and the training staff.

“Speaking for one person, I have, as you all know, a lot of these national guys who are at least acquaintances if not friends of mine, andI just haven’t talked to anybody,” Martelli said. “I think it’s too sensitive and one word in a sentence could change people’s view of it. It’s not easy, because I know what’s being said.”

But an internal review cleared Howard after Sanderson reportedly filed a report with human resources, per the release. As such, Howard has been given the green light to resume his head coach duties.

“The return of our usual coaching structure comes after a review of an incident involving several individuals during a team practice last week,” Manuel said. “Based on a thorough internal review, nothing was found to warrant disciplinary action for anyone involved. As such, we will move forward with a focus on our team and our season.”

The Wolverines will face Eastern Michigan tomorrow at Crisler Center. Sources have said they don’t expect Sanderson back on the bench with the team tomorrow, but the future — immediate and long term — remains unclear.

Watch TheWolverine.com for more on these developments in the days to come.