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Juwan Howard Finally Apologizes After Being Suspended For Throwing Punch

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Michigan head coach Juwan Howard had his punishment announced after throwing a punch at a Wisconsin assistant on Sunday afternoon

Michigan head coach Juwan Howard yells from the sideline during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Northwestern, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Michigan head coach Juwan Howard found himself as the talk of the sports world today for all the wrong reasons.

After getting into it with Wisconsin coach Greg Gard following the loss Sunday, Howard was seen throwing a punch at one of Gard’s assistant coaches.

It was announced on Monday afternoon that Juwan Howard would be suspended five games — which is the remainder of the team’s regular season schedule.

Even though Juwan Howard put all the blame on the Badgers immediately following the scuffle, the head coach apologized after his suspension was announced today.

“After taking time to reflect on all that happened, I realize how unacceptable both my actions and words were, and how they affected so many. I am truly sorry.”

“I am offering my sincerest apology to my players and their families, my staff, my family and the Michigan fans around the world. I would like to personally apologize to Wisconsin’s Assistant Coach [Joe] Krabbenhoft and his family, too.”

“Lastly, I speak a lot about being a Michigan man and representing the University of Michigan with class and pride, I did not do that, nor did I set the right example in the right way for my student-athletes. I will learn from my mistake and this mistake will never happen again. No excuses!”

The whole confrontation started after Juwan Howard took issue with a late timeout called by Greg Gard.

“I thought it was not necessary at that moment, especially being a large lead,” Howard said, via SI.com. “To have the timeout be called with three or four seconds to go, I thought that that was, what I felt, wasn’t fair to our guys.”

Greg Gard was also fined $10,000 for his role in the Juwan Howard situation.

“Apparently, he [Howard] didn’t like that I called a timeout to reset the 10-second call. We only had about four seconds to get the ball over half court and I had all of my backups – my bench guys in the game. I didn’t want to put them in that position of scrambling with only four seconds,” Gard said. “So I took the timeout and that got us a new 10 seconds and it helped them get organized and get the ball. And he did not like that when he came through the handshake line.”

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