A former Michigan basketball player coached by Dusty May and Juwan Howard has retired, ending a college career with two Sweet 16s and two Big Ten titles as a Wolverine.
The 6-foot-7 Jace Howard may not have been as successful as his “Fab Five” member father, but he left a mark on the program that May said he would carry with him.
Dusty May’s Former Student-Athlete Jace Howard Medically Retires From Basketball
Jace Howard played 70 games for Michigan under his father, Juwan (2020-24), and then briefly under May at the start of the 2024-25 season before transferring to Fordham. On Saturday, he officially announced his retirement due to multiple concussions suffered during his playing career.
CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein posted on X about Jace’s retirement. Sources close to Howard also confirmed this in a report.
Jace Howard tells me that he has had to medically retire from basketball following multiple concussions.
Howard played two games at Fordham this season and is a Michigan graduate.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) November 29, 2025
While playing for Michigan, the Miami, Florida, native recorded 104 points, 67 rebounds, 12 assists, six steals, and five blocks. He scored a career-high eight points against Purdue on February 25, 2024, and had seven points against Purdue on Jan. 23, 2024.
Jace stayed at Michigan even after his father was fired as the Wolverines’ head coach at the conclusion of the 2024 season and was replaced by May, who texted him for 40 minutes about his feelings regarding the hiring. Jace added that May also expressed his excitement to mentor him for the 2024-25 season, having known him since his high school days.
“As soon as Coach May got hired, he texted me like 40 minutes (after the news was released) and I thought that was pretty big,” Jace said in an earlier interview. “How excited he was to be here, how excited he was to coach me if that’s what I wanted to do. Coach Akeem (Miskdeen) and Coach May were the first coaches to recruit me out of high school.”
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Jace remained a benchwarmer for Michigan under May. He played five games last season and scored four points, all against Western Kentucky on Dec. 29, 2024.
He transferred to Fordham during the offseason and appeared in two games — against NJIT on Nov. 4 and Mount Saint Mary (New York) three days later. He totaled nine points and six rebounds in those two games. The Jesuit-run school is near his father’s workplace as one of the Brooklyn Nets’ assistant coaches.
Jace also served as team captain for the Michigan men’s basketball team from the 2022-23 to 2023-24 seasons, and his leadership could set him up for a career similar to his father’s in his post-basketball years.