Michigan head coach Joanne Howard will not be on the sidelines for the rest of the regular season after a physical confrontation with members of the Wisconsin State coaching staff that occurred after the Wolverines lost to Badger on Sunday.
The Big Ten Conference suspended Howard for five games.
[Original story, published at 3:59 a.m. ET]
After the Michigan Wolverines lost 77-63 to the Wisconsin Badgers, Howard and Wisconsin coach Greg Jard shook hands, and Howard can be seen saying something to Jared.
Jared grabbed Howard with his left hand to prevent the Michigan coach from moving on to the next person to shake hands with him, much to Howard’s anger.
After arguing for a few moments, the two were separated before another assistant from Wisconsin started yelling at Howard.
Soon after, Howard threw a punch toward a member of the Badgers coaching staff, causing a shove and push between the two groups of players and staff.
Jared spoke with the CBS Sports postgame on the field to explain his view of the melee.
“Apparently, he didn’t like that I called a timeout to reset the 10-second call because we only had four seconds to get the ball over the field,” Jared said. “And I didn’t want to put my backups in, I had all the guys on the bench in the game, and I didn’t want to put them in scramble in just four seconds.
“So I took a timeout and got us 10 new seconds and helped them organize and get the ball. He didn’t like it when he got through the handshake line, so I’ll leave it at that and the tape will show the rest.”
Howard addressed the incident in the post-match press conference: “I didn’t like the lead time they called, I’ll be quite honest, I thought it wasn’t necessary at that moment, especially with it being such a huge advance. … I thought that wasn’t fair to our guys.”
“Basically, I spoke with the coach that I would remember because of that timeout. For someone to touch me, I think there was no justification for them to touch me because we were talking and communicating with each other. So that’s what’s over, that’s what escalated it.”
University of Michigan athletic director Ward Manuel released a statement after the game ended.
“I am aware and watching the end of the men’s basketball game,” Manuel said. “There is no excuse for any of our staff or student-athletes to get into a physical altercation with others regardless of the provoking factors.
“I have reached out to Chris McIntosh and apologised, and (Michigan) President (Mary Sue) Coleman has reached out to the Chancellor of the University of Washington Planck to apologize for the completely unacceptable behavior. We will review the situation more thoroughly and work with the Big Ten conference as they determine their disciplinary actions and they will determine whether Further disciplinary action is warranted.”
Big Ten said it was “aware” of the incident and was “currently assessing the incident.”
“The conference will provide more information and will take prompt and appropriate disciplinary action when it completes its review,” it said in a statement.
CNN has reached out to the University of Wisconsin for a statement.
CNN’s Jacob Leaf contributed to this report.
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