Are Beilein, Dutcher Realistic Possibilities as Next Wolverine Basketball Coach?

Where does fired Howard fit on a list of Michigan's last seven coaches over the last half century? We'll rank them all for you.

Photos Courtesy of University of Michigan Photography

Steve Fisher (left) and Brian Dutcher (right) teamed up with great success for 27 seasons at Michigan and San Diego State.

Juwan Howard, clapping in this season’s win over Eastern Michigan, was let go after going 3-17 in the Big Ten regular season before getting blown out in the conference tournament opener to finish 8-24 overall.

By Steve Kornacki

Michigan has had a mixed bag of basketball head coaches over the last 50 years.

I’d rank them this way:

1. John Beilein

2. Steve Fisher

3. Johnny Orr

4. Bill Frieder

5. Juwan Howard

6. Tommy Amaker

7. Brian Ellerbe

Beilein, Fisher and Orr were top-flight coaches, and all three took the Wolverines to the Final Four.

Frieder was a great recruiter and a good coach.

Howard and Ellerbe had great starts – basically taking over teams developed by their predecessors -- and faded fast.

Amaker, the only one of the seven I did not cover or report on, may have actually seemed like as good of a hire as Michigan ever made. But the Coach K disciple – despite three 20-win seasons – couldn’t make a run at a Big Ten championship or reach the NCAA Tournament in six seasons. Though, he had an NIT title and a runner-up finish in that tourney.

So, where will the next Wolverine hire end up ranking?

And might that choice be somebody who once occupied that position?

I’d love to see Beilein return, but that’s unlikely. We’ll explore that later in this piece.

Or could it be a former Wolverine assistant coach to one of those former head coaches?

It would be a home run to lure Brian Dutcher, an assistant under both Frieder and Fisher, back to Ann Arbor. But I don’t see that happening either, and will explain that, too.

One thing is for certain: That new coach has one massive crater to dig the program out of.

Howard’s 8-24 (.250) overall record in 2023-24 included the most losses ever in one season for the program, and the winning percentage hadn’t been lower since William Perigo’s 4-20 (.167) finish in 1959-60. The 3-17 (.150) Big Ten record landed Michigan in the conference basement for the first time since Dave Strack’s 1966-67 team went 2-12 (.143). This year’s team also set the record for the most losses in Big Ten play by the Wolverines.

How Howard went from the Associated Press National Coach of the Year in 2020-21 to out of a job three years later is mystifying.

Michigan was 23-5 that season, won the Big Ten at 14-3 (.824) and reached the NCAA’s Elite Eight. It was Sweet 16 the next season, a second-round NIT loss the year after that, and then this free fall into total oblivion this season.

It was a trying year for Howard, 51, who had heart surgery Sept. 15 and wasn’t fully back into the head coaching role until mid-December. I didn’t think athletic director Warde Manuel would fire him based on that, but the season was such a total disaster that the program became completely irrelevant.

Something had to be done, and Manuel was correct to do what he did. Though, that had to be a difficult move to make on a personal level. Still, I had alumni and season ticket holders griping about Howard and demanding his removal as early as December.

What did in Juwan?

I think it was his anger-management issues. His altercations with a Wisconsin assistant coach after a game and during a practice with Wolverine strength and conditioning coordinator Jon Sanderson – which involved son and team captain Jace Howard -- were well publicized.

However, when Howard returned to the role full-go in mid-December, he said something that was alarming. Yet, little was made of it.

He laughed and said that getting two technicals and an ejection at a tournament game in the Bahamas just prior to Thanksgiving was, “Welcome back to basketball, baby. Welcome back. That was part of my stage of returning. That was a part of it and I stuck to the plan.”

Whoa.

What kind of an answer was that for somebody with a reputation for losing his temper?

He should’ve taken a more serious and constructive approach to that answer.

Yet, Juwan is highly likeable. He brought in some quality recruits, and won some big games and titles. So, he had a pretty long leash for criticism with the media and his boss.

But then it just became so bad that he had to go.

I found it odd from the beginning that Howard didn’t do everything possible to keep Beilein’s top two assistants – Luke Yaklich and DeAndre Haynes. But he kept Saddi Washington, who was good, but not as good as Haynes and Yaklich.

Andrew Kahn of MLive.com listed Haynes – now an assistant to Shaka Smart at Marquette – as a head coach possibility at Michigan. I’m not sure if I’d hire another coach who has never been a head coach before – which was the case with Howard – but I’d definitely talk to Haynes, who had a terrific impact with Beilein – particularly with the guards.

Smart, Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May, Alabama’s Nate Oats, Iowa State’s T.J. Otzelberger and Villanova superstar coach Jay Wright were others speculated as possibilities whom all appeal to me.

Wright won national championships in 2016 and 2018 (beating Michigan in the title game), and is only 62. Yet he walked away to become a TV analyst after last season, saying he lacked the “energy” to do the job.

But did one season away from coaching make him miss it more than he thought – while reenergizing him?

Michigan would definitely be a place he’d consider if that were the case.

Incidentally, Beilein and his wife, Kathleen, are good friends with Wright and his wife – for whatever that might be worth.

Which brings us back to Beilein.

He’s a cherished friend from my time working for the athletic department and MGoBlue.com, and there’s no coach I respect more. He built a team and a culture with love and an unreal understanding of the game and how to coach it. His practices were things of beauty – roundball orchestrations consisting of great detail and effort.

The fact that he accepted a Division III transfer named Duncan Robinson and turned him into a strong NBA player is one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen.

But I also think part of the reason he took the ill-fated position as head coach of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers was because he had tired of the one-and-done syndrome. Now, with the open gate to transferring and NIL considerations added to his plate, I don’t really believe coming back appeals to John.

But I could be wrong. When our paths crossed when I was writing about the Detroit Pistons and he was their senior adviser for player development, he still had plenty of fire. Now he’s also an analyst, doing studio work for the Big Ten Network.

However, he’s also 71.

That’s a tough age to get back into anything – even something you love.

Which brings us to Dutcher.

He’s 64 and has been living in San Diego – the most beautiful area in the U.S. – for over a quarter-century. He just last week signed a lucrative contract extension, and walks on water there after replacing Fisher seven years ago and taking the Aztecs to the 2023 national championship game.

But would coming back to straighten out the Wolverines – for whom he also helped recruit Howard and the Fab 5 with Fisher – appeal to him? To the point of making a move that wouldn’t seem logical?

I do know this much from watching countless San Diego State games late at night. He is one heck of a coach. His teams are fundamentally sound, play defense as well as any team, and love playing together. Watch him in timeout huddles, and Dutcher is always direct, effective and in total control.

So, we have an interesting hire coming.

Will it include Michigan’s past or come from a totally different place – which was the case when Beilein came here from West Virginia.

We shall see.