Joan Howard: Michigan basketball coach suspended for rest of regular season

The Big Ten Conference suspended Howard for five games. Big Ten said in a statement that Howard was issued a $40,000 fine in addition to his suspension.

“It was determined that there was a clear violation of the Big Ten Conference sportsmanship policy by Michigan men’s basketball coach Joanne Howard. In addition, University of Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Greg Gard was in violation of the conference’s sportsmanship policy,” the statement read.

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said conference coaches and student-athletes “are expected to demonstrate the highest level of athletic behavior.”
“We expect yesterday’s incident to provide coaches and student-athletes with an opportunity to reflect, learn and move forward in a way that demonstrates fitness and leadership on and off the field,” Warren wrote in the statement.

Along with Howard’s fine and suspension, Michigan forwards Terrence Williams II and Moussa Diabatti have one-game suspensions, effective immediately.

Jared was fined $10,000 and Wisconsin guard Jakobe Neith was suspended for one game, effective immediately.

How did the quarrel break out?

After the Michigan Wolverines lost 77-63 to the Wisconsin Badgers, Howard and Jared shook hands, and Howard can be seen saying something to Jared.

Jared grabbed Howard with his left hand to prevent the Michigan coach from moving on to the next person to shake hands with him, much to Howard’s anger.

After arguing for a few moments, the two were separated before another assistant from Wisconsin started yelling at Howard.

Soon after, Howard threw a punch toward a member of the Badgers coaching staff, causing a shove and push between the two groups of players and staff.

See also  Aaron Rodgers 'grateful' for Green Bay Packers' response to issues last season, still hesitant about future

Jared spoke with CBS Sports on the field after the game to explain his view of the melee.

“Apparently, he didn’t like that I called a timeout to reset the 10-second call because we only had four seconds to get the ball over halfway,” Jared said. “And I didn’t want to put my backups, I had all the guys on the bench in the game, and I didn’t want to put them in that scramble with just four seconds.

“So I took a timeout and got us 10 new seconds and helped them organize and get the ball. He didn’t like it when he went through the handshake line, so I’ll leave it at that and the tape will show the rest.”

Howard addressed the incident in the post-match press conference: “I didn’t like the lead time they called, I’ll be quite honest, I thought it wasn’t necessary at that moment, especially with it being such a huge advance. … I thought that wasn’t fair to our guys.”

“Basically, I spoke with the coach that I would remember because of that timeout. For someone to touch me, I think there was no justification for them to touch me because we were talking and communicating with each other. So that’s what’s over, that’s what escalated it.”

University of Michigan athletic director Ward Manuel released a statement after the game.

“I am aware and watching the end of the men’s basketball game,” Manuel said. “There is no excuse for any of our staff or student-athletes to get into a physical altercation with others regardless of the provoking factors.

See also  March Madness: Gonzaga Falls Short Again as the Favorite

“I reached out to Chris McIntosh and apologized to him, and (Michigan) President (Mary Sue) Coleman has reached out to University of Washington Chancellor (Rebecca) Blank to apologize for the completely unacceptable behavior.”

CNN has reached out to the University of Wisconsin for a statement.

CNN’s Jacob Leaf contributed to this report.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *