Michigan basketball accused of having ‘abhorrent culture’

What are we doing here? That’s been a common question from Michigan basketball fans this season. It was justified based on what was happening on the court. However, it’s fair to ask the same thing about what has been happening off the floor.

Another damning report about Michigan basketball

There have been rumors of another article being released on the Michigan basketball program and it dropped Friday morning from The Athletic (by Katie Strang and Brendan Quinn). The report claims that Warde Manuel brought in an outside organization (Rankin Climate) to investigate the culture of the Michigan basketball program.

This comes on the heels of the resignation of Jon Sanderson who left the program after an altercation with Howard (he was just hired by Illinois). The matter was investigated but the University of Michigan found that Howard did nothing wrong. At least there was no clear evidence that he violated the zero-tolerance policy he was working under after throwing a punch at a Wisconsin assistant in 2022.

Sanderson made even more accusations against Howard in this latest report, accusing Juwan of making physical threats toward Jett Howard. It was reported that Juwan also “manhandled” Jett on the sideline in addition to reportedly saying (to Jett) “I’ll slap the sh– out of you.”

Sanderson’s attorney wrote this to Warde Manuel in an email that was obtained by The Athletic:

“There is a culture of fear within the MBB (men’s basketball) program and concern for retaliation by Coach Howard that has prevented staff from coming forward earlier, but now it is time to address that abhorrent culture.”

It’s baffling but looking back on some of the other incidents, like yelling he would kill another coach, or punching another coach during the handshake line, it’s not all that shocking. It’s also hard to see how Juwan has survived the “zero-tolerance” policy, outside of maybe the absence of hard evidence to back up Sanderson’s claims.

Regardless, it’s a bad look all around and maybe a reason why Warde Manuel’s support has shifted recently. Frankly, the 8-24 record was bad enough but this looks even worse for Michigan basketball, which is why, more than ever, it’s time to make a change.

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