Seth Greenberg weighs in on Juwan Howard, Greg Gard punishments

After the Big Ten announced the punishments for Juwan Howard, Greg Gard and others after Sunday’s incident between Michigan and Wisconsin, reactions poured in. One came from ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg, who supported the suspensions and fines.

Greenberg, speaking on ESPN’s Get Up, said he thinks the punishments were fair given everything that happened — from Gard stopping Howard in the handshake line to Howard throwing a punch and players getting involved.

“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.”

Seth Greenberg on whether Greg Gard should’ve been suspended

Greenberg then addressed the punishment against Gard, who received a $10,000 fine and wasn’t suspended. He agreed with the league’s decision not to suspend the Wisconsin headman and made an appropriate comparison between Gard and Howard’s roles in the melee.

“It’s like the difference between a flagrant 1 and a flagrant 2,” Greenberg said. “The first interaction, Greg Gard, he should get fined because it was unnecessary. Was it unnecessary and excessive? No. What happened after that was unnecessary and excessive. … He probably should’ve let Juwan Howard just move on. But for that reason and that reason only, to have contact, you have contact with your opponent in a handshake line. That’s just the way it is.

“Did he have to explain himself? No, he didn’t have to explain himself. But that’s not the deal. The deal is the punch. The fine is for his behavior, Greg Gard, but the [suspension] is for the [punch]. And that’s just the way it is. You can say, ‘Well, it’s cause and effect.’ No it isn’t. That interaction did not justify Juwan reacting the way he did, and I loved his comment that he came out with yesterday because he took responsibility, he understands and he wants to be better from that experience.”