(Los Angeles) Former NBA player Juwan Howard, now coach of the Michigan men’s varsity team, punched a Wisconsin assistant coach in the face just after their game, which sparked a general fight involving players and technicians from both sides.
Posted yesterday at 7:49 p.m.
Just after the defeat conceded by Michigan (77-63), there is first a muscular verbal exchange between Howard and the coach of Wisconsin, Greg Gard, when they had to bow to the traditional handshake of post game.
Quickly the two men were surrounded by players and technicians from both teams, after Howard pointed a finger close to Gard’s face and grabbed his sweater.
Gard’s assistant, Joe Krabbenhoft, entered the fray, earning a slap from Howard.
The Big Ten Conference, affiliated with the NCAA university championship and which organizes the championship involving the two teams, said it intended to examine the facts, in order to take “prompt and appropriate disciplinary action”.
“Someone touched me, and I think it was very inappropriate of them, as we were verbally explaining each other. That’s what made things escalate,” Howard explained later in a press conference.
It’s not the first such incident involving Howard since he took over as Michigan coach in 2019. Mark Turgeon.
Named best coach of the 2021 season for the Big Ten Conference last year, this former strong winger played 19 years in the NBA, winning the league title twice in 2012 and 2013 with Miami. He was selected once to the All-Star Game in 1996.