Nick Baumgardner and David Jesse | Detroit Free Press

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Juwan Howard could be on his way to finalizing a role as Michigan basketball's new head basketball coach.

U-M formally offered its head coaching job to Howard on Wednesday morning, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation. As of late morning, the deal was still being negotiated and nothing had been signed by either party.

Around 11 a.m., Howard's wife, Jenine, sent out a simple message: "Go BLUE."

Howard, 46, is being offered to replace John Beilein – the program’s all-time winningest coach – who ended his 12-year run at the school last Monday to become the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The former Michigan and NBA standout has been a member of the Miami Heat's coaching staff under Erik Spoelstra since 2013. He's never been a head coach. He's never coached in college.

Howard departed Michigan in 1994 to embark on a 19-year NBA career. He was a key member of Michigan’s famed Fab Five recruiting class. The Chicago native and former All-American was the first of the group to commit, and was a key cog in what resulted in back-to-back NCAA title game appearances in 1992 and 1993.

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Those Final Four banners have since been removed from Crisler Center due to sanctions resulting from the Ed Martin recruiting scandal that tainted that era. Howard was not part of the group of players who were disassociated from the university for a 10-year period as a result of the scandal.

Howard ranks No. 20 on Michigan’s all-time scoring list and No. 11 on the all-time rebounding list.

As an NBA player, Howard was an All-Star in 1996 and wound up as a two-time champion with the Miami Heat (2012, 2013). During his 19 years in the league, Howard averaged 13.4 points and 6.1 rebounds in stints with the Washington Bullets, the Dallas Mavericks, the Orlando Magic, the Houston Rockets, the Denver Nuggets, the Charlotte Bobcats, the Portland Trail Blazers and the Heat.

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Juwan Howard through the years

At U-M, Howard played in 100 games during his three-year career. As a junior in 1994, Howard averaged 20.8 points and nine rebounds per game. He declared for the NBA draft after that season and was selected No. 5 overall. Howard, per reports at the time, took correspondence courses during his rookie year to earn his Michigan degree in 1995.

In a coaching search that became heavily impacted by the timing of Beilein’s mid-May departure, Michigan was in a unique – and unenviable – position of trying to work with due diligence while battling a real time constraint due to roster and recruiting retention. Large coaching names who, reportedly, expressed a lack of interest in leaving their current jobs for Michigan included the likes of Billy Donovan, Brad Stevens, Mike White and Mike Brey.

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel told reporters in Chicago last week that he’d like to zero in on a candidate with previous head coaching experience, though he did expand his search beyond that. Ultimately, he said, he wanted to “get it right.”

Associated Press

Manuel moved through the first week of the coaching search mostly having interest-level discussions with coaching representatives. Providence head coach Ed Cooley, Howard and LaVall Jordan, the former Michigan assistant and current Butler head coach, were on an interest list. Manuel also spoke with Michigan assistant coaches Saddi Washington and Luke Yaklich about the job before moving into the external interview phase.

Moving through the weekend, Manuel – who was assisted by the search firm, Turnkey Search, during the process – put together a plan to meet with Cooley on Monday while the coach was in Ponte Vedra, Florida, for the Big East’s annual spring meetings. From there, Manuel traveled to see Howard in Miami on Tuesday. The plan, per sources, was to meet with those two coaches and then make a decision before to the end of the week.

Cooley announced his decision to stay at Providence on Tuesday afternoon, netting a multi-year extension from the school. Per sources, Michigan never made a formal job offer to Cooley.

From there, Manuel met with Howard on Tuesday — which led to Wednesday's offer.