Making sense of the social media rumors that Juwan Howard is stepping down at Michigan

Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but a former Michigan star player-turned-head coach was the subject of social media rumors on Sunday night.

Only this time it wasn’t Jim Harbaugh who was at the center of the speculation, but rather men’s basketball coach Juwan Howard.

Following the Wolverines’ 90-80 win over Iowa on Sunday, social media filled with rumors that Howard was set to step down as Michigan’s head coach. The original source of the speculation? An X (formerly Twitter) account parodying college basketball insider Jon Rothstein.

https://twitter.com/JomRothstein/status/1734028126164774974

The “report” from “Jom” — not to be confused with Jon — was soon picked up by a college basketball news aggregator account with more than 38,000 followers and that’s where things really seemed to take off. Soon, social media was filled with speculation and memes purporting that Howard’s impending departure was due to a fight with an assistant coach — despite neither the fake Rothstein account nor CBKReport mentioning a physical altercation.

https://twitter.com/MJoeBean/status/1734052637308223876

https://twitter.com/msupeach/status/1734037442800255215

Juwan Howard after the staffer cracked too many smiles Friday pic.twitter.com/TcnisNGlbQ

— Lauren Emmerson (@A_MaizingBlue) December 11, 2023

As rumors of Howard’s departure from Ann Arbor swirled, Jalen Rose, took to X to clarify that his former Fab Five teammate isn’t stepping down and remains focused on recovering from the open heart surgery he underwent in September (Howard has been on Michigan’s bench since last week but has yet to resume gameday head coaching duties).

“@JuwanHoward did not & is not stepping down as HC,” Rose posted. “He is enthusiastically hoping to return Dec 16th. Juwan is literally recovering from OPEN HEART SURGERY done Sept 15th. HAIL!!!!!”

.@JuwanHoward did not & is not stepping down as HC. He is enthusiastically hoping to return Dec 16th. Juwan is literally recovering from OPEN HEART SURGERY done Sept 15th. HAIL!!!!!

— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) December 11, 2023

That seemed to settle that, with the best explanation for the whole ordeal being a parody post taking off and rival fans amplifying it by making jokes about Howard — who famously punched a Wisconsin assistant coach during an on-court altercation last year — being involved in another fight.

The only problem? It appears that something involving Howard did happen.

As Michigan insiders looked into the situation, multiple — and credible — reports emerged that Howard had been involved in a verbal altercation with an assistant coach. While the confrontation reportedly wasn’t physical, whatever happened resulted in longtime Wolverines strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson not traveling to Iowa City with the team and the situation being reviewed by the university, according to Brendan Quinn of The Athletic.

Regarding various reports of Juwan Howard’s status at Michigan …. pic.twitter.com/ZeiuZDKgMU

— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) December 11, 2023

While there hasn’t been any credible reporting that Howard was involved in a physical altercation, it seems awfully coincidental that social media was filled with speculation that he had been in a fight — with some posts even specifically mentioning the strength and conditioning coach — shortly before the news of a verbal confrontation was made public. Even taking the fight aspect out of it, it’s curious that the parody Rothstein account published its post regarding Howard at the time that it did.

Taking a look at the entire situation, there appears to be at least one missing link. What tipped the parody Rothstein account off to news regarding Howard being on its way? And what led to the social media speculation that it involved a fight?

Perhaps this is all just a massive coincidence. But more likely, this won’t be the last we’ve heard about this entire situation.

[Brendan Quin on X]