Michigan basketball's Juwan Howard: Associated Press College Basketball Coach of the Year
Juwan Howard is the Associated Press College Basketball Coach of the Year, the AP announced Thursday afternoon.
Howard, 48, is the second coach in Michigan basketball history to receive the award; Bill Frieder was the first in 1985.
BREAKING: @JuwanHoward of @umichbball named The Associated Press men’s college basketball coach of the year.
Story by @jmarshallAP >> https://t.co/YbF8aXWtfM pic.twitter.com/140Et5BDd9— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) April 1, 2021
The former Fab Five member led the Wolverines to a 23-5 record this season, the team's first Big Ten regular season championship since 2013-14, the third No. 1 seed in program history and an Elite Eight appearance. Michigan fell, 51-49, to UCLA on Tuesday night.
It has been a busy awards season for Howard, who is in his second season as head coach. He was previously named the Big Ten Coach of the Year, Henry Iba National Coach of the Year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) and Sporting News National Coach of the Year.
SHAWN WINDSOR: Despite painful Elite Eight loss, Juwan Howard, Michigan just getting started
Howard is also a finalist for the Werner Ladder Naismith National Coach of the Year and the Ben Jobe Award for the top Division I minority coach.
In two seasons, Howard has compiled a 42-17 record (.712 winning percentage). In his first season, Michigan went 19-12 and reached a season-high ranking of No. 4 after winning the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the fall. This season, they were ranked as high as No. 2 and spent numerous weeks ranked in the top-5.
Contact Orion Sang at osang@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @orion_sang. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines and sign up for our Wolverines newsletter. The Free Press has started a new digital subscription model. Here's how you can gain access to our most exclusive Michigan Wolverines content.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball's Juwan Howard: Associated Press Coach of the Year