Rumors have been rampant in the Michigan basketball coaching search and it was reported Friday that the Wolverines have contacted Juwan Howard.

When it came to Juwan Howard and the Michigan basketball head coaching job, one question that remained was whether the former Fab Five member would be interested in the job.

Howard hasn’t officially expressed interest in the job but according to ESPN’s Jordan Schultz, Howard told him that he has been contacted by Turnkey Sports, the search firm being used by Michigan basketball and that the Wolverines are “very interested” in hiring him.

The news that Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel wants to talk to Howard isn’t necessarily groundbreaking. He seemed like a logical candidate from the start, however, it seems unlikely Howard would pass this news along to Schultz if he wasn’t interested in pursuing the job.

Juwan Howard tells me #Michigan has retained Turnkey Sports for its coaching search. Howard has spoken with them and has been informed that Wolverines AD Warde Manuel is very interested in speaking with him. — Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) May 17, 2019

As it stands right now, Howard is one of the most attractive candidates that hasn’t taken his name out of the running. Brad Stevens and Billy Donovan both said no and it doesn’t seem like the other big-name college coaches like Jay Wright, Chris Beard and Tony Bennett are attainable.

So that leaves Michigan basketball with Howard, an assistant for the Miami Heat that has interviewed for multiple NBA head coaching positions, including both the Lakers and T-Wolves.

The other names being mentioned the most along with Howard right now are that of Shaka Smart, the head coach at Texas and LaVall Jordan, who is currently at Butler and was formerly an assistant under John Beilein.

Howard doesn’t have any head coaching experience, however, he has learned under Erik Spoelstra and if NBA teams consider him bright enough to be a professional head coach, Michigan should certainly speak with him.

Obviously, he would need to learn to recruit and there are some adjustments from the NBA to the college game, however, he’s young and he played for the Wolverines, so that should help keep him in Ann Arbor if he took the job.

It never honestly crossed my mind that Howard would be the guy to replace Beilein. Yet, he is qualified and with guys like Donovan and Stevens passing, he might be the best option.