Josh Howard(Glenn HS/Wake Forest University) named new head basketball coach at UNT-Dallas

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Josh Howard, former Dallas Mavericks All-Star forward who played 10 seasons in the NBA, has been named head coach of the University of North Texas at Dallas’ new men’s basketball program.

Howard was a Mavericks first-round draft pick in 2003, played seven seasons for the franchise, and spent the last four years as the head coach at Piedmont International University in his hometown of Winston-Salem, N.C. He garnered a 49-49 overall record, highlighted by his 2018-19 team qualifying for the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association National Championship Tournament.

It was never easy for Josh Howard back in high school….We take at look at the Josh Howard high school days over at Glenn High School in Kernersville, N.C. with info coming in from Wikipedia….www.wikipedia.com

Howard attended Glenn High School in Kernersville, North Carolina, where he was a First-Team All-State selection in his senior year and averaged six blocks per game while shooting 70%. He also averaged a double-double during his junior and senior years, during which time he also received the Frank Spencer Award (for the top player in Northwest North Carolina) twice. During his senior year Howard was handcuffed outside of a BP gas station the night before his SAT examination. Howard had been loitering on the premises with some of his friends, and undercover cops, believing the teenagers had been selling drugs, detained them.

In order to get into Wake Forest University Howard needed an SAT score of at least 950. He did not get a 950, saying his score was “somewhere in the 500s”. In lieu, he spent a year at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia, where he averaged a double-double, with 19.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Howard led Hargrave to a 27–3 record, shooting well on the floor with 56%. He also averaged 44% from behind the three-point line and 85% from the free throw line. Howard participated in the ACC–SEC game between new signings from the two conferences. Howard scored 14 points in 15 minutes to help lift the ACC team to a 145–115 win over the SEC.

During his four years at Wake Forest, Howard graduated with a degree in religious studies, was selected to the first team All-ACC, led the Demon Deacons in points during his sophomore year, and was named ACC Player of the Year in 2003. His No. 5 jersey retired, Howard was inducted into the Wake Forest Hall of Fame in 2014, and the ACC Hall of Fame in 2017.

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As the starting small forward with the Dallas Mavericks, Howard helped Dallas reach the NBA Finals in 2006, and earned an All-Star berth in 2007. Soon after being traded from Dallas to the Washington Wizards in February 2010, Howard suffered a devastating knee injury. He would play for the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves before retiring after the 2012-13 season.

Now Josh Howard joins the fastest-growing public university in Texas. He begins the process of building a program from scratch with the UNT Dallas Trailblazers set to begin play this fall as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

“Josh’s basketball career speaks for itself as a former star player for the Mavericks and a member of the Wake Forest and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Halls of Fame,” UNT Dallas athletic director Jack Allday said. “Off the court, the effort he puts into the Josh Howard Foundation shows how much he cares about our young people. Our student-athletes, student body, fans and the entire Trailblazers family are going to love Josh Howard.”

Howard maintained a residence in Dallas and has lived in the city during portions of the college basketball offseason. He will again make Dallas his permanent home.

“Coming back to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex has been great for my family,” Howard said. “My goal at UNT Dallas is to be a great leader for the players, staff, the university and the community. I wanted to become the first men’s basketball coach at UNT Dallas to help young men get an affordable college education and also play the game they love.”

At Piedmont International, Howard coached the conference player of the year for 2017-18, and placed five players on all-conference teams.

from the Dallas Morning News:CLICK HERE for this article info at the Dallas Morning News….
UNT-Dallas president Bob Mong said……
“We wanted to make sure that whoever we had was comfortable in that environment,” said Mong, a former editor of The Dallas Morning News. “We love our demographics. It’s why we’ve grown so fast in the last five years. One of the criteria was, ‘Would this coach relate well to our students and their families?’

“We spent a lot of time talking about where [Howard] grew up near Winston-Salem, and it wasn’t an easy childhood for him and it wasn’t an easy high school for him. There was a lot of poverty. We felt that he had the experience in his life that would relate well with our students.”

The university was also familiar with Howard given his involvement with Elevate, a weeklong boys leadership program founded by former TCU football players Terrance and Tim Maiden and hosted at UNT Dallas. Howard made appearances the last two summers to speak to participants about his path.

Howard’s hire comes more than a decade removed from his trade from Dallas to Washington in February 2010, an exit from the Mavs that was preceded by turbulence. He reportedly missed a game because of a hangover in January 2010. Two years before that, Howard admitted to smoking marijuana during the offseason, was arrested for drag racing and made controversial comments about the national anthem.

“You have to use what your dealt with in the past to extend your future and extend other people’s futures and give them opportunities to learn from your mistakes,” said Howard, who turns 40 on April 28. “I used that as a teaching tool back at Piedmont a lot of times. I know my young players definitely understand older guys go through a lot, just have to learn from those mistakes.”

Mong said he spoke to members of the Mavs organization about Howard during the interview process, but he declined to specify whom.