![]() ![]() They hired one of Howard’s high school coaches - legal in those days - to work at Michigan’s summer camp, which meant Howard would come as well. Dutcher scribbled out hand-written letters. There were no cell phones or social media, either. “Everywhere he was, I was,” Dutcher says. Sometimes it meant standing on the side of an outdoor court on a scalding summer afternoon in shorts and T-shirt, nodding at Howard as he quietly honed his game. So Dutcher went to his high school gym, or followed him across state lines to a camp or tournament. There were no certified AAU tournaments like the ones now dominating the summer recruiting circuit. Legend has it Dutcher did that for 28 straight days he says it might have been all 30. In the 1990s, there was a 30-day evaluation period when coaches could watch prospects but not contact them. ![]() “We were not going to leave one stone unturned.” You knew he could help you get that next recruit. You’d go to these camps, and Juwan was someone that everybody had great regard and respect for and really, really loved him as a person. “We knew the importance of getting Juwan Howard, we knew the pop he would bring, the star power, the ripple effect on everything that happened,” says Fisher, who a year earlier had won the NCAA title six games into his head coaching career after taking over for Bill Frieder on the eve of the tournament. He seemed to like Fisher and Dutcher, and he wanted to sign in the November period before his senior season at Chicago Vocational Career Academy. Both indicated they would wait until the spring of their senior year to pick a college. Jalen Rose, also from Detroit, was rated a couple spots below him. 1 prospect in the country, pursued by Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, Michigan State, you name it. The Fab Five wasn’t recruited as a group.Ĭhris Webber was considered the No. That’s the way this game feels.” Collard greens You always wanted to be the last one (found). But everyone out there who’s ever competed against their brother or cousin or next-door neighbor, you always want to win, whether it’s Wiffle Ball or hide and seek. We can hug and kiss and do all that stuff after the game. It’s our five guys against their five guys. “Here’s the deal: When the ball goes in the air, all that goes out the window. “Almost giddy,” Martelli says of Howard’s emotions in the office this week. But they also say they sense something special about this game, something different, that it’s not just an appetizer while each school revs up for conference-championship games in football later in the day. Michigan assistant Phil Martelli doesn’t know Dutcher well, and Howard’s players say he reveals little about his college days or personal life. The Wolverines originally were scheduled to play Kentucky, but when the Wildcats backed out, Dutcher called his former player and mentioned they had an open date Dec. PST), the first game of the network’s college basketball season. They meet as coaches for the first time Saturday at Michigan’s Crisler Center and live on CBS (10 a.m. That’s how special of a man Coach Dutcher is. I cannot be more happy and blessed and excited for the relationship that we’ve both developed over the years and will continue to be part of my life and my kids’ lives as well. I’m just honored to be one of the young men that he has helped turn into a man. ![]() “You can say that to a guy who’s family, and then he’s going to have a really good comeback. He’s actually the worst coach I ever played for.” Says Howard, with a straight face: “I haven’t learned anything from Coach Dutcher. “At the time,” Fisher says, “I think Juwan viewed Dutch as a big brother, someone he could trust and confide in, someone he knew would be there for him when needed and would not let him down. He would kindle an enduring friendship - a Black player out of Chicago’s rough South Side, a young White coach from Minnesota, a bond for life. Dutcher would land more than a 6-foot-9, blue-chip recruit and cornerstone of the Fab Five, college basketball’s most famous freshman class. ![]()
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