Juwan Howard: 'Uncomfortable moments' in recruiting Jett Howard to Michigan, but 'we need him'

Michigan men’s basketball head coach Juwan Howard perpetually has his recruiting hat on. One of his toughest gets since taking over the program might have come right in his own home. Class of 2022 freshman wing Jett Howard had offers from several national programs but ultimately chose the Wolverines.

That said, it was never a shoo-in for Michigan.

Howard – a four-star prospect and On3’s No. 40 overall player – was recruited hard by Tennessee and darn near wound up there. Juwan Howard would have been supportive regardless of the decision. But when push came to shove, he made sure he closed the deal in favor of Michigan.

Michigan’s head coach addressed the recruitment of his son during a session with the media on Thursday and said it did get a bit awkward at times.

“Uncomfortable moments for both sides,” Howard said. “What I really admire and respect about Tennesee and Rick Barnes and their staff was that they went all in and it got uncomfortable. I was going to allow Jett to make the best decision for him. At the same time, knowing in my heart that I wanted to coach him. If he decides to choose a different school, I was still going to support him. I’m his dad, I love him and I was going to buy a t-shirt for the school that he played for and wear it proudly.

“But whenever we played them, we were going to kick his ass.

“My wife was the person that ran it and I trust her decision. My sister-in-law played college basketball at UAB, she went on recruiting visits joining my wife. They spent time at NC State, it was like a family reunion. There were a lot of family members that were with him to join him on his official visit. They always reported back to me. I talked to some of the head coaches. Coach Barnes, he called and we had some really good conversations. It was kind of weird in a way. I told him that we’re not going to waste their time and, at the same time, that Jett will make the right decision for him. He was leaning towards that Tennessee direction, I had to recruit him a little bit. Told him like, man, we really need him.”

Jett Howard finding his footing at Michigan

Howard and his Michigan teammates are in the middle of 10 practices allotted to the team in the summer. From there, they will pack up and head to Europe for a team trip and three exhibition games. Juwan Howard reviewed what he has seen so far from the freshman wing.

“He’s coming along very well,” Howard said. “With freshmen, there’s so much thrown at you so fast. Different terminology. Speed of the game, strength. And then, this is something that only a few had to deal with. Many of the vast majority of college basketball players have never experienced this: Playing for your father. That is not an easy transition. Not making excuses for him but he embraced it. Yesterday, I’m leaving – and I was the last one to leave at like 6:30 yesterday – and we didn’t have practice. The guys had a nice little session. Then, I heard a ball bounce. I was like, ‘man, who is in there?’ I peek in and open the door because I can’t watch them work out and it was Jett. Jett is in there getting extra shots up.

“His skillset, what he has, is what we need. We need him. He’s a shooter, a playmaker, big wing playmaker. He’s almost up to 6-8, 6-7 legitimately. You play with shoes on it’s 6-8. [He can] stretch the floor. The key with him, 1% better, is at times he loves to make the play. What the play is, he wants to make the play for someone else. Trying to teach him to embrace being more aggressive offensively. He wants to make a play. Hunter is going to love playing with him. He had three-straight turnovers trying to get the ball to Hunter and two of the three he could’ve shot the ball. That’s the unselfishness of Jett.”

Leaning on resources for advice on playing for father

Jett Howard has some others he can relate to. His brother, junior forward Jace Howard, is going into his third year at Michigan with his dad. Juwan Howard said that another pair of Big Ten brothers – Iowa’s Connor and Patrick McCaffery – have helped in the transition in playing for their dad.

“I’m sure they’ve had their conversations,” Howard said of his two sons. “That would be one of his 1% better as far as communicating. That’s not only his brother, that’s his best friend. I’m sure he’s going to lean on Jace a lot. I would love to give a shoutout to the McCaffery’s, Connor and Patrick, what two beautiful people. They’re great with helping my boys with their transition of playing with their father. I didn’t put them in contact with one another and Jace was the first person to reach out to them. I thought that was so mature of him. Next-level forward thinking that I am not smart enough to do on my own. Those fellas have really helped our boys with their transition playing for their father.”