Michigan's Juwan Howard wins national coach of the year honor
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Mar. 19—The honors continue to roll in for Michigan's Juwan Howard.
The second-year coach was named the recipient of the Henry Iba Award on Friday, which is given annually by the United States Basketball Writers Association to its national coach of the year.
Howard joins Johnny Orr (1975-76) as the only other Michigan coach to win the USBWA honor and is the first Big Ten coach to earn the accolade since Illinois' Bruce Weber in 2004-05. He was selected from a list of finalists that included Alabama's Nate Oats, Baylor's Scott Drew and Gonzaga's Mark Few.
It's the second national accolade for Howard, who was named Sporting News' national coach of the year last week. He's also one of four finalists for the Naismith men's college coach of the year.
In addition to the national recognition, Howard was the consensus Big Ten coach of the year after leading Michigan to its first regular-season conference title since 2014. He was also named the Big Ten's top coach by the Associated Press, the USBWA's District V coach of the year and the National Association of Basketball Coaches' District 7 coach of the year.
Howard has guided Michigan to 20-4 record and a 14-3 mark in Big Ten play. The Wolverines won their first 11 games and were ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation. They're entering the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed for the third time in program history.
Howard's 39 wins make him Michigan's winningest coach through the first two seasons, passing his former coach Steve Fisher (37).
Twitter: @jamesbhawkins
