Suspensions for Michigan coach Juwan Howard, players for their part in melee

Michigan head coach Juwan Howard will be suspended for the rest of the regular season by U-M, per Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel, for his part in Saturday’s postgame melee at Wisconsin. The punishment means Howard will miss five games, including this week’s games with Rutgers and Illinois, next week’s home contests with Michigan State and Iowa and a March 6 game at Ohio State.

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“It has been determined that there was a clear violation of the Big Ten Conference’s Sportsmanship Policy by Michigan Men’s Basketball Head Coach Juwan Howard,” the Big Ten said in a statement. “Additionally, the University of Wisconsin Men’s Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard was in violation of the conference’s sportsmanship policy.

“For their roles in the altercation, Michigan’s Terrance Williams II (forward), Moussa Diabate (forward), and Wisconsin’s Jahcobi Neath (guard) were also in violation of the Big Ten Conference’s Sportsmanship Policy. Many members of the bench area for both teams, including assistant coaches, did not represent the level of sportsmanship that is expected from the Big Ten Conference and its member institutions.”

“Big Ten Conference coaches and student-athletes are expected to display the highest level of sportsmanship conduct,” Commissioner Kevin Warren said. “I am grateful for the partnership with Michigan Athletics Director, Warde Manuel and Wisconsin Athletics Director, Chris McIntosh. Our expectation is that the incident yesterday will provide our coaches and student-athletes with the opportunity to reflect, learn and move forward in a manner that demonstrates decorum and leadership on and off of the court.”

Manuel proactively addressed a five-game suspension of Howard with Warren. Concluding an assessment of the incident, the conference and the University of Michigan reached alignment on Coach Howard’s disciplinary action. That included a $40,000 fine for Howard and a $10,000 fine for Gard.

Gard, however, was not suspended.

Howard initially said something to Gard in the handshake line about a late Wisconsin timeout. Gard then appeared to put his hands on him to stop him to talk. The Michigan coach got animated and put his finger in Gard’s face, at which point the two had to be separated. 

Wisconsin assistant Joe Krabbenhoft then entered the middle of the pack. Whatever Krabbenhoft said or did seemed to set the Michigan coach off (it appeared he put his hands on Williams). Howard’s open-handed punch set off a melee that included sophomore Williams and freshman Diabate.

“Yes, I was [upset],” Howard said. “I didn’t like the timeout being called, and I’ll be totally honest with you. I thought it was not necessary at that moment, especially being a large lead. And then, for the timeout to be called with three seconds, four seconds ago. I thought that … wasn’t fair to our guys.”

Gard said he was simply trying to reset the 10-second clock, which he understood was at four seconds. That would give his backups a chance to get the ball up the floor. Howard later indicated it didn’t matter to him what he said.

“Touching me unnecessarily … there wasn’t cause for that when we were talking. At that point, I thought that was time to protect myself,” Howard said.

Warde Manuel, however, didn’t see it that way. He made that clear in his own statement released by Michigan.

“I am aware of and watched the end of our men’s basketball game. There is no excuse for any of our staff or student-athletes to get into a physical altercation with others, regardless of instigating factors,” the Michigan athletic director said. “I reached out and apologized to [A.D.] Chris McIntosh and President [Mary Sue] Coleman has reached out to UW Chancellor Blank to apologize for the totally unacceptable behavior.  

“We will review the situation more thoroughly and work with the Big Ten Conference as they determine their disciplinary actions and will determine if further disciplinary actions are warranted.”

And now, the situation has been rectified, at least with the head coach. Michigan will have to win some games down the stretch shorthanded if the Wolverines hope to make the NCAA Tournament.