Former Miami Heat player/assistant and Michigan Wolverines coach Juwan Howard has been fined and suspended for the remainder of the regular season by the Big Ten Conference for his involvement in what became an ugly brawl following Sunday’s game between his team and the Wisconsin Badgers.
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard was also fined, while Wolverines players Terrance Williams II and Moussa Diabate — as well as the Badgers’ Jahcobi Neath — received one-game suspensions.
After the contest, the respective teams converged for the customary postgame handshake. Howard didn’t join the procession initially and, when he finally did so, he was grabbed by Gard and prevented from continuing down the line.
Howard responded by pointing his finger at Gard and grabbing the coach’s shirt before players, coaches and security staff intervened. Moments later, Howard slapped the head/face of Wisconsin assistant Joe Krabbenhoft.
From there, a full-on melee ensued, with players pushing, shoving and even throwing punches at one another. And it was all captured by CBS Sports’ cameras.
What Led to the Brawl
The 15th-ranked Badgers were able to protect their home court against Howard’s Wolverines, winning the game 77-63. However, during the bout’s waning seconds, Gard surprisingly called a timeout with his team struggling to get the ball into the frontcourt.
After the contest and the brawl that followed, Howard criticized the decision.
“I didn’t like the timeout they called, and I’m being totally honest with you,” Howard said during his postgame presser. “I thought it was not necessary at that moment, especially with it being a large lead. … I thought that wasn’t fair to our guys. And so that’s what happened.”
Regarding the slap, Howard indicated that he was simply defending himself.
“Well, basically, I addressed with the head coach that I will remember that, because of that timeout. And for someone to touch me — I think that was very uncalled for, for him to touch me — as we were verbalizing and communicating with one another,” he said.
“That’s what escalated it. …Touching me unnecessarily when we were talking. At that point, I thought that was time to protect myself.”
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Gard Sounds off on the Triggering Timeout Call
For his part, Gard defended his decision to stop play in spite of the blowout nature of the game.
“Apparently he didn’t like that I called the timeout to reset the 10-second call. Because we only had four seconds to get the ball over half court,” Gard said, via CBS Sports. “I didn’t want to put my backups — I had all my bench guys in the game — I didn’t want to put them in that position of scrambling with only four seconds. So I took a timeout and got us a new 10 seconds and it helped them get organized and get the ball in.
“He did not like that when he came through the handshake line. So, I’ll leave it at that and the tape will show the rest.”
Howard, who starred at Michigan before spending the better part of two decades in the Association as a player, was with the Heat for nine years from 2010 to 2019 as both a player and an assistant to Erik Spoelstra. He’s a two-time NBA champion.
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Heat Alum, Michigan Coach Suspended for His Part in Scuffle