Is Juwan Howard in the Hall of Fame? Exploring Michigan HC's legacy as a player and a coach
Michigan Wolverines MBB head coach Juwan Howard is an NBA vet through and through, not to mention, a college hoops legend. As a former member of the rather notorious but iconic Fab Five squad, Howard carved for himself a path from college into the pros and has made a name in the worldwide hoops circle--eventually settling down as coach for his alma mater.
That said, the question of whether the current Wolverines men's basketball head coach is a Hall of Fame inductee (college or NBA) will be answered here.
Is Juwan Howard in the Hall of Fame?
No, he isn't. As an NBA player, Howard was more of a journeyman and a perennial player, not much of a star, but a major contributor in his own right. Despite not having earned an NBA Hall of Fame nod, Howard remains a former All-Star and a two-time NBA champion with the Miami Heat.
Howard is also not inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame despite being a big part of that Fab Five team. In fact, only one member of the squad would be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame: Chris Webber.
Despite not being an inductee, however, Howard has done his part for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in his own way. In 2022, he along with fellow college hoops coach John Calipari was involved in a jersey exchange with the Chelsea Football Club (via HoopHall.com).
That was part of a two-event visit by the Hall in London, with Howard's Wolverines squad facing the Kentucky Wildcats in a double-header at the famous O2 Arena.
Here's one thing though: Howard was indeed inducted into a Hall of Fame. Specifically, it was the Basketball Museum of Illinois, who inducted the Michigan Alum in 2015, just a couple of years after his last season with the Miami Heat. He was already an assistant coach for the Heat by then.
Howard's time with the Michigan Fab Five
As a member of that Wolverines squad that wreaked havoc throughout college hoops from the early to mid-90s, Howard was consistently the team's third-leading scorer behind Jalen Rose and Chris Webber. Playing from 1991-92 to the 1993-94 season, Howard averaged double figures and would actually be the team's leading scorer during his last season in Ann Arbor (he averaged 20.8 PPG).
Howard will be the third member of the Fab Five to leave college for the NBA, entering the 1994 NBA Draft. Jalen Rose was the second, and Webber, as expected, was the first to go pro.
Juwan Howard the Wolverines coach
The 2023-2024 season isn't really going good for the Wolverines and their head coach, all things considered. So far, the team is a sub-par 7-11 overall, and a paltry 2-5 in in-conference play as well. This is far from the success his earlier Michigan teams had.
So far, though, Juwan Howard's coaching record for the Wolverines remains a winning one (via Coaches Database): 79-48 at the time of this writing, and the record is clearly subject to change.