ANN ARBOR, Mich. — As Phil Martelli stepped up to the podium inside the Crisler Center media room, he wasted little time getting to the point.
One day after Juwan Howard was handed a five-game suspension for his role in Sunday’s postgame scuffle at Wisconsin and Martelli was elevated to acting head coach for the rest of the regular season, Martelli made one thing clear.
He’s taking his boss’ place, but he’s not replacing him.
“I am not Juwan Howard,” Martelli said, the first words coming out of his mouth during Tuesday’s press conference. “I'm going to be me.”
After serving as Howard’s top assistant since the start of the 2019-20 season, Martelli, 67, will guide the Michigan basketball team during a crucial stretch run where the Wolverines will look to build a resume worthy of NCAA Tournament selection, starting with Wednesday’s home game against Rutgers.
Martelli admitted he doesn’t have the offensive mind Howard has. What he does have, though, is over four decades of college coaching experience, highlighted by a 24-year run at Saint Joseph’s where he won 444 games as head coach.
“I'm not going to mimic him,” Martelli said. “I told the players (Monday) ... what we have in place is the way that we're going to play.”
Martelli, of course, is confident in his ability to manage a game and lead a program. None of that is new to him. Yet, he finds himself in a situation he has never been in before in his lengthy coaching career — taking over duties after his head coach struck an opposing assistant in the face and started a skirmish in the postgame handshake line.
According to Martelli, Howard hasn’t addressed his players in-person since the incident at the Kohl Center, but he had a “heartfelt text exchange” with everybody in the program late Sunday night.
“He will and has expressed his love for everybody and everybody in the program has expressed their love for him,” said Martelli, who added he will remain in contact with Howard during his absence.
“Juwan is very remorseful and today is a little better than yesterday.”
Howard’s anger stemmed from a late timeout that Wisconsin coach Greg Gard took with 15 seconds left in the 77-63 loss, which Gard called to reset the 10-second backcourt count and organize his backups against Michigan’s pressure defense.
Martelli didn’t see anything wrong with the game management from either side — “I think that it was the ebb and flows,” he said — but noted end-of-game situations like that can be “really sensitive.”
“Escalations like that have no place in the game,” Martelli said. “Everybody involved — not the three people suspended or not just our players — everybody involved has now learned a hard lesson. ... I'll raise my hand. Juwan went one way in the (handshake line) and I didn't think to go with him. Everybody learned a hard lesson.”
Martelli added athletic director Warde Manuel addressed the team Monday afternoon and praised him for delivering what he described as a “masterclass in leadership.” Manuel was blunt and made it clear an incident like Sunday’s could never happen again.
“In all walks of life, there are moments when you,” Martelli said, snapping his fingers, “and when that happens, you can go one way or you can go the other. Everybody went in the wrong direction on this one. So whatever needs to happen when this happens, let's each grow from it.”
Howard isn’t allowed to attend any games, practices or any team related activities during his suspension, which was imposed jointly by Michigan and the Big Ten. His absence also creates some logistical changes when it comes to the coaching staff.
Martelli will take on more responsibilities and run practices. Director of operations Chris Hunter will move into an assistant coaching role and will work with the big men in practice, like Howard did. Assistant Howard Eisley will serve as the team’s offensive coordinator, given he and Howard put together what Martelli called an “effective and massive playbook.”
During games, Martelli plans to stand — instead of sitting like he has the past couple years — on the sideline and keep the show running as smoothly as possible. However, Martelli noted the team will lose some of its offensive touch without Howard and it’ll take a collective effort to make up for his genius.
“The guy is a mastermind with ATOs (after timeout plays) and it has blown my mind for three years,” Martelli said. “That's not who I am.
“I think that forward together, that's what this has to be. And I'm a part of it. I'm no more or less a part of it than Howard Eisley or Saddi Washington. We're doing this together moving forward.”
The Wolverines will be without freshman forward Moussa Diabate and sophomore forward Terrance Williams II, who were suspended one game each for throwing punches in Sunday’s incident. For a team that needs to finish strong to keeps its postseason hopes afloat, it’s a big blow that Martelli will have to navigate.
But as Martelli tossed and turned in his sleep on Sunday night, it wasn’t the loss at Wisconsin or Michigan’s NCAA Tournament chances that weighed on him. It was the fact that he was going to have to step in and fill Howard’s shoes.
At least, that was until he woke up Monday morning with a moment of clarity.
“They didn't ask me to be Juwan Howard,” Martelli said. “They asked me to be me. And you know what? I'm confident in that.”
