Michigan Hires Former Player, Surely That Won’t Backfire

Ann Arbor, MI — On Wednesday night, the Michigan Wolverines hired Juwan Howard to succeed John Beilein as the school’s 17^th head coach. Howard agreed to a five-year deal with a base salary of $400,000 and $2 million annually. The Michigan alumni has six years of coaching experience with the Miami Heat as an assistant. He has never coached at the collegiate level. Whelp… at least the Wolverines didn’t overpay. I am sure the next five years will fly by… 

In honor of Coach Howard, here is a comprehensive list of former players that coached at their blue blood alma maters.

Georgetown

• Tommy O’Keefe, 82-60 over six seasons (0.577%) – Resigned
• Craig Esherick, 103-74 over six seasons (0.582%) – Fired
• Patrick Ewing, 34-29 over two seasons (0.540%) – Active

Indiana

• Lou Watson, 65-60 over six seasons (0.520%) – Resigned

Kansas

• Phog Allen, 590-219 over thirty-nine seasons (0.729%) – Retired
• Dick Harpe, 121-82 over eight seasons (0.596%) – Resigned

Kentucky

• Joe B. Hall, 297-100 over thirteen seasons (0.748%) – Retired

Maryland

• Gary Williams, 461-252 over twenty-two seasons (0.673%) – Retired

Memphis (Memphis State)

• Larry Finch, 220-130 over eleven seasons (0.629%) – Forced to Resign
• Penny Hardaway, 21-13 over one season (0.618%) – Active

Michigan

• Dave Strack, 113-89 over eight seasons (0.559%) – Left
• *Bill Frieder, 191-87 over nine seasons (0.687%) – Left (Became HC of Arizona State) Attended Michigan as an undergrad, but did not play basketball for the Wolverines.
• Juwan Howard, 0-0 – Present

Michigan State

• *Gus Ganakas, 89-84 over seven seasons (0.514%) – Fired. Attended MSU as an undergrad, but did not play basketball for the Spartans.

St. John’s

• Frank MaGuire, 102-36 over five seasons (0.739%) – Left (Became HC of UNC)
• Frank Mulzoff, 56-27 over three seasons (0.675%) – Left
• Chris Mullin, 38-60 over four seasons (0.387%) – Resigned

UCLA

• Gary Cunningham, 50-8 over two seasons (0.862%) – Left
• Larry Farmer, 61-23 over three seasons (0.726%) – Left
• Walt Hazzard, 77-47 over four seasons (0.621%) – Fired

UConn

• Hugh Greer, 287-113 over seventeen seasons (0.718%) – Death
• Burr Carlson, 16-32 over two seasons (0.333%) – Fired
• Dom Perno, 139-114 over nine seasons (0.549%) – Retired
• Kevin Ollie, 127-79 over six seasons (0.617%) – Fired

UNC

• Matt Doherty, 53-43 over three seasons (0.552%) – Forced to Resign
• *Roy Williams, 453-133 over sixteen seasons (0.773) – Active. Played on the JV team.

UVA

• Billy McCann, 40-106 over six seasons (0.274%) – Resigned

Villanova

• Al Severance, 413-201 over twenty-five seasons (0.673%) – Retired

Average Winning Percentage: 0.610% (Juwan Howard, Gus Ganakas, and Bill Frieder were excluded from these calculations)

Note: Arizona, Duke, and Louisville have never hired a former player as head coach.