Juwan Howard ‘truly upset’ with himself for Michigan-Wisconsin brawl

Juwan Howard, talking for the primary time since he was suspended on Feb. 21 for taking a swing at Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft, apologized for the incident.

“I can come with a thousand excuses, but I’m not. I take full ownership for my actions,” Howard advised reporters Wednesday.

Howard, upset with Wisconsin coach Greg Gard for calling a timeout late in an already determined recreation, took a swing at Gard’s assistant within the handshake line.

“I could talk about the timeout,” Howard mentioned. “We could discuss the pull on the arm. We can talk about the words that were exchanged with coaches. But all that will be excuses. The main thing is that was not the right way how I should carry myself as a head coach at the University of Michigan. I was truly upset with myself.”

Howard was suspended for Michigan’s last 5 common season video games, however will probably be again on the Wolverines sideline for Thursday’s first-round Big Ten event matchup with Indiana.

“I want to be a better person. I want to be a better coach,” he mentioned. “I feel that was the right thing to do to help improve as a person. I got a chance to really evaluate and see what areas I can improve on. And that is not just because of now, but that’s going to be for the future as well because I enjoy being here and I enjoy being a leader this program.”

The incident was not the primary blow-up for the previous NBA star. Howard bought right into a shouting match with Maryland coach Mark Turgeon and wanted to be restrained by his assistant coaches in the course of the 2020 Big Ten Tournament.

“I’m sorry. I hurt a lot of people,” Howard mentioned. “I harm my household. I harm my gamers and their households. I harm my employees. I harm the Michigan household, the Michigan alumni base. Lots of people bought harm throughout that second. And I’m nonetheless hurting.

“I know there’s going to be a big microscope on me every time that I coach, what are my emotions like, how I’m going to communicate with my players. I know I’m not a perfect person and the mistake that I made, I will try to improve. But there was growth and I have learned during the process and I will continue to keep learning.”

Howard’s Michigan squad may conceivably play Wisconsin within the Big Ten Tournament title recreation, however faces an uphill battle to take action. The Wolverines are at present on the bubble to succeed in the NCAA Tournament. As of Wednesday morning, playing odds projected them as considerably extra seemingly than to not make it into the Big Dance.