Acting Michigan head coach Phil Martelli reveals locker room reaction to Juwan Howard suspension

Michigan associate head coach Phil Martelli is once again serving as a head coach following a suspension to head coach Juwan Howard.

Martelli, who formerly served as the head coach at St. Joe’s, will be leading a program for the first time since 2019, as he’s been named the Wolverines’ acting head coach while Howard serves his suspension. Howard, of course, will now sit out for the remainder of the regular season for his postgame scuffle following Michigan’s loss to Wisconsin on Sunday. Howard appeared to have thrown a punch at a Wisconsin assistant after the two exchanged heated words in the handshake line, prompting the suspension. In his first press conference after Howard’s suspension, Martelli addressed his headman’s mindset, then detailed the initial locker room reaction to the ruckus.

Unsurprisingly, the Michigan Wolverines were rattled to see the events play out in real time. But Martelli assured media that his players were able to cope with the various suspensions handed down, thanks in part to athletic director Warde Manuel handling the situation well.

“I (can’t speak to the individual reaction) specifically, but I think Warde Manuel did a fabulous job laying it out for the players and the staff,” Martelli said. “I think that all of us would say the same thing: escalations like that have no place in the game. And everybody involved — everybody — not the three people suspended, or not just our players, everybody involved has now learned a hard lesson. We are all collectively remorseful for missed opportunities. I’ll raise my hand. Juwan went one way to shake hands, and I didn’t think to go with him. Everybody learned a hard lesson. And you know what? It’s time to play basketball.”

More on Howard’s suspension as Martelli takes over

Howard’s latest on-court debacle wasn’t his first, either, perhaps informing the length of his latest suspension. Last season, when Michigan faced Mark Turgeon’s Maryland Terrapins in the Big Ten Tournament, Howard lost his cool at Turgeon, yelling choice words across the court during a stoppage of play. When Turgeon began jawing back — then stepped towards Howard — the Michigan head coach physically pushed his way towards Turgeon, and a shoving match ensued. Assistant coaches had to hold back Howard, who was ejected from the game following a double-technical.

Juwan Howard took offense to a late timeout from Wisconsin and took a swing in the handshake line, chaos ensues pic.twitter.com/dk4hnkTscP

— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) February 20, 2022

In his postgame interview, Gard explained what led to the fight on the sidelines. It was, in fact, the timeout — but Gard said there was reason for him to call it.

“Apparently, (Howard) didn’t like that I called a timeout to reset the 10 second call,” the Badgers coach said. “We only had four seconds to get the ball up the court and I didn’t want to put my backups in the game. I didn’t want to put them in that position of scrambling with only four seconds. So I took a timeout and it got us a new 10 seconds and helped them get organized to get the ball in. He did not like that when he came through the handshake line. I’ll leave it at that and the tape will show the rest.”

Immediately after the game, Howard did not apologize for his actions, according to local reporters.

“Juwan Howard has not apologized for anything that happened,” tweeted Michael Cohen of the Detroit Free Press. “Said he was upset about Wisconsin calling a timeout late in the game. He expressed that frustration to Greg Gard. Howard said Gard touched him during the postgame line and he felt the need to defend himself.”