Juwan Howard to return head-coaching role Saturday, alleged incident did not ‘warrant’ disciplinary action

The Michigan athletic department has concluded its internal review of an alleged altercation between Michigan men’s basketball coach Juwan Howard and strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson.

After a week of outside speculation, the Michigan athletic department has concluded its internal review of an alleged altercation Dec. 8 between Michigan men’s basketball coach Juwan Howard and strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson.

And according to Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, who released a statement on the matter Friday night, a review found no reason for discipline for Howard or any others involved. In fact, Howard will return to his head-coaching role for the first time all season Saturday in the Wolverines’ game against Eastern Michigan (2:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network).

Howard has neither coached a game nor met with reporters this season as he recovers from a heart procedure that took place Sept. 15.

“Juwan Howard will return to the Michigan bench Saturday (Dec. 16) against Eastern Michigan in his total capacity as head coach,” Manuel said in the statement. “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.

“The return of our usual coaching structure comes after a review of an incident involving several individuals during a team practice last week. 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.”

For days, rumors had swirled about an alleged altercation between Howard and Sanderson that took place Dec. 8. And while the Michigan athletic department remained quiet about its investigation of the incident, The Athletic reported earlier this week that the matter was one Sanderson — who has held his role in Ann Arbor since 2009 — deemed worthy of filing a human resources report for.

According to multiple sources to 247Sports, Sanderson and Howard had a heated, verbal exchange over

“The confrontation between Howard and Sanderson stemmed from a disagreement between an athletic trainer and senior guard Jace Howard, Juwan’s 22-year-old son. Jace Howard has not played this season with a stress fracture in his right knee and tibia, and questioned why he’s yet to be cleared to play,” The Athletic wrote. “Sanderson became involved in that dispute, and he and Juwan Howard exchanged words. According to a combination of witnesses and individuals briefed on the matter, no punches were thrown, but things became heated to the point where the two were separated.”

Sanderson has been Michigan’s strength and conditioning coach since 2009, as well as holding the same role for Michigan’s men’s and women’s golf teams. He has been widely credited for helping the Wolverines produce a staggering 17 NBA Draft picks and 11 first-round picks since 2011, all but four of whom were in Ann Arbor for at least two seasons. In a decade prior to his arrival, Michigan had produced just two NBA Draft picks, and one first-rounder.

Howard’s involvement in the incident prompted outsiders to wonder if his job was in doubt, as it isn’t Howard’s first anger-related outburst. In February, 2022, Howard slapped Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft in a postgame incident in Madison, which resulted in a five-game suspension and $40,000 fine. Since then, Howard has been under a “zero-tolerance policy” by the athletic department. In addition to the altercation at Wisconsin, Howard was also ejected from a Big Ten Tournament game against Maryland in March, 2021, with claims from Maryland’s side alleging that Howard threatened then-Maryland coach Mark Turgeon.

Howard’s alleged incident with Sanderson is the latest setback in what has been an adverse year for Howard. In the spring, Howard’s Wolverines went 18-16, missing the NCAA Tournament and losing to Vanderbilt in the second round of the NIT. Shortly after, Michigan lost Kobe Bufkin and Jett Howard to the NBA Draft, and three-year starter Hunter Dickinson to the transfer portal. Dickinson ended up at Kansas.

Over the summer, Michigan was aggressive in the transfer portal, landing graduate transfers Olivier Nkamhoua, Nimari Burnett and Tray Jackson. But several misses in both high school and transfer recruiting resulted in the Wolverines entering the season with just 11 of an allowable 13 scholarship players. One of those players is Jace Howard, who has yet to play this season.

Then, shortly before the season began, Howard underwent heart surgery Sept. 15, and has yet to serve as a head coach since. The procedure resected an aortic aneurysm and repaired the aortic valve. The procedure initially was slated to be a 6- to 12-week recovery. The 12-week mark was Dec. 8, the date of Howard’s alleged incident with Sanderson. Since the season began, Howard has gradually increased his workload. He was elevated to an assistant coach role Dec. 2 in an overtime loss at Oregon.

“accountability” within the program.

In terms of the team’s results, they have been largely mixed, as Michigan is 1-1 in Big Ten play, 5-5 overall and 3-4 against high-major competition. Currently, the Wolverines are ranked No. 65 of the NCAA’s NET rankings, which are used as a guideline for NCAA Tournament selection.

Michigan is, however, coming off a 90-80 win at Iowa, one Martelli deemed could have been the Wolverines’ best win of the season.

“I think the players’ response was — I don’t want to go ‘exceptional,’ but I thought the players’ response to being on the road, to bubbling — if that’s right word, all that was bubbling,” Martelli said Friday. “I thought it was just extraordinary. It spoke volumes about their growing maturity and belief in each other that you can win a road game. Road games are hard to win anyway. And in that setting, there was a certain air of desperation for Iowa. And so, as I stood on the sideline, I was really impressed with the response — the pure basketball response by these players.”