For the next addition to his Nets coaching staff, Jordi Fernandez turned to ex-Michigan head coach — and former Heat assistant — Juwan Howard, according to ESPN.
Howard, who joins Steve Hetzel as the first assistants to be hired by Fernandez, had previously coached the Wolverines for five seasons before they parted ways with him in March after an 8-24 campaign.
During his stint at Michigan, Howard, who was a player during the program’s legendary Fab Five run during the 1990s, became known as a polarizing coach due to multiple confrontations surfacing throughout his tenure.
In February 2022, he slapped a Wisconsin assistant coach in the handshake line and was suspended for the rest of the regular season.
And in December, another incident surfaced involving Howard and strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson — this time allegedly connecting back to a disagreement over the status of Howard’s son, a member of the team who didn’t play due to injuries and, according to The Athletic, involved why he hadn’t been cleared.
The Wolverines, though, had plenty of success with Howard in charge, too.
After missing the NCAA Tournament during his first season, Michigan made the Elite Eight and Sweet 16 the next two years.
But after making their regional semifinal in 2022, they went 26-40 across the next two seasons and didn’t make the Tournament either year.
Fernandez, who previously was the Kings’ associate head coach, took over for interim head coach Kevin Ollie, and he said in his introductory press conference that he expects the Nets to “see results right away.”
“This industry is about getting results and getting better,” Fernandez told reporters earlier this week. “So how much are you going to get better? It’s how we believe the process is important. We know that there’s proper steps to take and we’ll see improvement right away.
“But the most important thing to me is to believe in team success over personal success.”
Credit: Source link
