For the first time this season, Michigan head coach Juwan Howard will take the helm on Saturday.
The news was released by Warde Manuel in a statement on Friday night, along with the information that the practice incident last week “nothing was found to warrant disciplinary action for anyone involved.”
Below is Manuel’s complete statement:
“Juwan Howard will return to the Michigan bench Saturday (Dec. 16) against Eastern Michigan in his total capacity as head coach. 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.”
On September 15th, Howard had heart surgery to fix his aortic valve and treat an aortic aneurysm. After his return to the show, he watched Michigan’s games at the Battle 4 Atlantis as a “observer” before helping to coach the team in games against Oregon, Indiana, and Iowa.
He can now officially assume the position at the end of the bench, taking Phil Martelli’s place as interim head coach.
These are some brief remarks regarding Manuel’s statement, the incident, Howard’s return, and other topics.
Leave a Reply