INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The Associated Press announced Thursday (April 1) that University of Michigan David and Meredith Kaplan Men's Basketball Head Coach Juwan Howard was selected the 2021 Associated Press National Coach of the Year.

Howard becomes the Wolverines' first recipient of the honor since Bill Frieder in 1985. Frieder is the only other Michigan coach to receive the award in its 55-year history. Howard also is the first Big Ten Conference coach to be recognized with the award since Bruce Weber at Illinois in 2005.

Howard becomes only the eighth coach in the Big Ten to be honored since the first award was announced in 1967. The only other active Big Ten coach who has won the award is Michigan State's Tom Izzo, the 1998 recipient.

This is the fourth national accolade for Howard, who also is the recipient of the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Henry Iba Award as well being named National Coach of the Year by The Athletic and the Sporting News. He is a finalist for the Werner Ladder Naismith Award and Jim Phelan Award for National Coach of the Year, and the Ben Jobe Award for the top Division I minority coach.

In addition to his national coaching recognitions, Howard was named the Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year by the coaches and media, as well as by the Associated Press. He also was the USBWA's District V Coach of the Year and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 7 Coach of the Year.

Howard guided the Wolverines to a 23-5 record and a 14-3 Big Ten mark, helping the Maize and Blue claim the conference title. U-M earned the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament for the second time before losing 68-67 to Ohio State in the semifinal round. On Selection Sunday, Howard's Wolverines were named the No. 1 seed in the NCAA East Region -- the program's third No. 1 seed in history, joining the 1985 and 1993 (vacated) teams.

At the 2021 NCAA Tournament, the Wolverines advanced to their fourth straight Sweet 16 after wins over Texas Southern and LSU. Following a victory over Florida State, U-M moved on to its fourth Elite Eight appearance in the last eight tournaments. Ultimately, U-M lost a 51-49 decision to UCLA.

Michigan got out of the gates early in 2020-21, as the Wolverines started 11-0 and quickly jumped into the nation's top 10. Howard's 42 wins in his first two seasons make him the winningest Michigan coach through two seasons, passing his former coach Steve Fisher (37).