Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard talks being a barber for friends, teammates
(CBS DETROIT) - Michigan Men's basketball head coach Juwan Howard has accomplished so much during his basketball career.
An original member of the 1991 University of Michigan's men's basketball recruiting class, "The Fab 5," a two-time NBA champion, and leading his alma mater to a Big Ten title in 2021.
But his career on the court wasn't always set in stone.
Before he was shooting fadeaways in Ann Arbor, Howard was cutting fades in his native Chicago.
"I used to cut people [hair] in my neighborhood, whether it was the kids in the neighborhood, the adults in the neighborhood," Howard told CBS News Detroit. "That was like my hustle. That's the way I earned money as I was growing up."
Howard says his barber skills came from his upbringing in the Windy City, where people always took pride in how they looked.
"I like to be groomed. It started when I was a young kid growing up … It's definitely that Chicago in me. We always portray that we like to look good," Howard said. "When you look good, you feel good, you play good, you work harder. That's always been my mantra … I'm not only a basketball coach. I'm a barber. That's my second job."
Howard's skills as a barber even came with him to Ann Arbor.
"When I moved up to college, at times, I used to cut my own hair, as well as my teammates' hair," Howard said.