ESPN analyst reveals how Wisconsin's Greg Gard should've handled Juwan Howard argument

The dust is settling on Sunday’s Michigan–Wisconsin melee, and the punishments have been handed out. Tuesday, one ESPN analyst explained how Wisconsin coach Greg Gard probably should’ve handled the situation.

Seth Greenberg, a 34-year coaching veteran, spoke from personal experience about the situation after Sunday’s game. Michigan coach Juwan Howard took exception with a late timeout and Gard tried to explain himself in the handshake line. That’s when things went south.

Speaking on ESPN’s Get Up on Tuesday, Greenberg shared a story from his coaching career to illustrate how Gard should’ve approached things.

“I think Greg Gard thought he was disrespected that Juwan didn’t extend a hand,” Greenberg said. “I’ll give you a perfect example. Jim Larrañaga’s a dear friend. The first time I played the University of Miami when he was the head coach, they beat us. I extended my hand, he gave me the wet fish. I waited until we got behind, through the tunnel, and I turned to him and I said ‘Jim, how could you do that? I’ve known your for 25 years. You’re going to give me the wet fish? At least put your hand out, shake my hand, look me in the eye and say, hey, good luck the rest of the season.’

“I did handle it behind closed doors. And Greg could’ve done that. There’s no doubt it. I think what happened is the lack of respect in the initial contact.”

As a result of the incident, Howard received a five-game suspension — the rest of the regular season — and a $40,000 fine. Gard didn’t get a suspension, but got fined $10,000.

Seth Greenberg: The Big Ten ‘got it right’ with punishments against Greg Gard, Juwan Howard

Greenberg’s story about his interaction with Larrañaga came after he defended the punishments against the coaches. He said he agreed with how the league and schools handled things to prevent these types of incidents from happening again in the future.

“I think they got it right because you can’t condone that type of behavior,” Greenberg said. “I don’t care what happened prior. Juwan Howard, in that handshake line, Greg Gard stopped him. He left the handshake line and then came back and swung. You just can’t condone that. You talk about mirroring type of behavior because he swung, the rest of his team got involved in this melee.

“As a head coach, you’ve got to set the standard of how you want your team to behave in the most adverse situations. So I think they got it right. They had to send a clear message that that type of behavior’s unacceptable. If it was at a bar, if it was in a workplace, that behavior would be unacceptable. It’s surely unacceptable for the head coach at Michigan.”