Juwan Howard participates in Michigan shootaround ahead of St. John's game

After undergoing a procedure on his heart this offseason and spending some time away from the team, Michigan head coach Juwan Howard could officially be back.

College basketball insider John Rothstein reported that Howard traveled with the team to New York and participated in shootaround on Monday ahead of the Wolverines’ matchup against St. John’s tonight.

Howard had a successful procedure on his heart September 15, and was expected to be away from the program for four to six weeks and to make a full recovery in six to 12 weeks. Last Friday marked the eighth week since Howard’s surgery, and it will definitely be interesting to see if he returns to the sidelines as the Wolverines face the Red Storm on Monday night.

Michigan's Juwan Howard traveled to New York and participated in today's shootaround prior to tonight's game against St. John's, per a school spokesman. Howard has not coached yet this season after undergoing heart surgery.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) November 13, 2023

According to a release from the university, Dr. Himanshu Patel successfully resected an aortic aneurysm and repaired Howard’s aortic valve in his heart back in September. And following the procedure, associate head coach Phil Martelli took over as the team’s interim head coach.

Martelli joined Michigan’s staff in 2019, serving as Howard’s second-in-command since he first took the Michigan job without any prior head coaching experience. Martelli was the head coach at Saint Joseph’s for over 20 seasons before joining the Wolverines’ staff adding two more wins to his 400+ as a collegiate head coach as he’s been able to lead Michigan to a 2-0 start this season in Howard’s absence.

Michigan handily beat their first two opponents of the season, scoring over 90 points with a win margin of over 20 points in each of their matchups against UNC-Asheville and Youngstown State. But Monday will represent their tallest task of the season thus far, as they face a revamped St. John’s team led by notable head coach Rick Pitino in his first season with the program.

Assistant coach Saddi Washington appeared at Big Ten Media Days this year in Howard’s absence and detailed his recovery and desire to rejoin the team.

“Well, you know my boss right?” Washington asked. “So he’s a very motivated individual to get back. But no, there’s no time table and quite honestly we want him back when he’s ready. He’s gonna listen to his team of doctors and he’s gonna go through the process of working through his rehab and getting healthy. But I know how the competitive spirit that he is and he’s gonna be running through the door when his time comes, and we’re just gonna hold down the fort and force forward and try to prepare these young men for this season.”