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Newsstand: Former Michigan strength coach Jon Sanderson hired as sports performance consultant at Illinois

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•03/15/24•

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Tweets Of The Day

Less than two weeks after Jon Sanderson resigned from Michigan as its strength coach, he has a new job. Sanderson was announced Thursday night as Illinois’ sports performance consultant. The Illini play Friday in the Big Ten Tournament and are slated to make the NCAA Tournament.

“We will utilize Jon’s industry expertise – which includes three Final Fours and developing 30 NBA players during his career – through conversations and meetings with our current staff to create a first in class performance development program,” Illinois basketball wrote on social media.

Sanderson left Michigan after an altercation with head coach Juwan Howard in December. He was not with the program for months but still employed, before reaching a settlement and resigning.


A look at Michigan running back Donovan Edwards’ second touchdown in a 34-13 win over Washington in the national championship game.

Woodward Sports breaks down how far Michigan basketball has fallen. The Wolverines ended the season at 8-24 overall and 3-17 in Big Ten play.

The Detroit News columnist Bob Wojnowski shared his thoughts on Howard’s future with the Michigan program, which is in doubt after the 8-24 campaign.

“Unfortunately, so much went wrong this season, it’s hard to buy anything went right,” Wojnowski wrote. “It takes a special type of calamity to go 3-17 in the Big Ten, the program’s first last-place finish since 1967. The Wolverines lost 19 of their last 21, including nine in a row. They regularly collapsed in second halves, owing to lack of depth, lack of talent, lack of coaching direction, and at times, lack of tenacity.

“It’s the crime no one wants to admit and it’s hard to prove. Under Howard, the program’s mantra has been “For Competitors Only” but we didn’t see it nearly enough, which is why the Wolverines now sit at this complicated crossroad.

“It may not seem complicated when you look at the numbers and see the same ugly mistakes over and over. The Wolverines were historically bad, disjointed on offense, outmanned on defense. They led the conference in turnovers by a wide margin, and right on cue, committed three in the first four minutes against Penn State.”

Quote Of The Day

“We’ve instilled a culture since day one, since I’ve been a head coach here, and we will not waver from it, no matter what college basketball and the rules with college basketball has thrown at us. We will stick to the culture because we understand what works.”

— Howard on Michigan basketball’s culture

Headlines Of The Day

• Chris Balas, The Wolverine: Juwan Howard: ‘I look forward to coaching next year’ – will it be at Michigan?
• EJ Holland, The Wolverine: Blue Chips: Breaking down top Michigan targets Kamar Archie, Kole Briehler
• Chris Balas, The Wolverine: Experience can make Wink Martindale a great fit at Michigan – will it?
• Clayton Sayfie, The Wolverine: Michigan EDGE Cameron Brandt looking to impact, ‘enjoy that glory of winning’ in 2024
• Anthony Broome, The Wolverine: Michigan spring football mailbag: The QB battle criteria, the coach with most to prove, more

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