Like Father, Like Son: KU assistant Jerrance Howard shows off son Jay Jay’s coaching chops

By Matt Tait     Mar 27, 2018

Kansas guard Malik Newman (14) gets a congratulatory pat on the head from assistant coach Jerrance Howard after a late three-pointer during the first half, Saturday, March 17, 2018 in Wichita, Kan.

San Antonio — For years, Jerrance Howard’s son, Jay Jay, has been one of the favorite sons of Jayhawks everywhere.

Whether you’re talking about future No. 1 overall NBA Draft picks like Andrew Wiggins or walk-ons like Evan Manning, the younger Howard has always been beloved by the current crop of KU players, both for his always-on personality, extreme love of all things basketball and ability to make just about anyone who comes in contact with him laugh and smile in an instant.

He’s a lot like his father in that way.

And it turns out he’s a lot like his father in another way, too – his coaching prowess.

No, Jay Jay has not started coaching his youth basketball squad as a player-coach, but he has shown recently that he might have a future in coaching.

The mock scouting report drawn up by Jerrance Howard's young son Jay Jay months before KU's win over Duke.

Earlier this week, assistant coach Howard, who is in the middle of trying to prepare the top-seeded Jayhawks for Saturday’s 7:49 p.m. Final Four game against top-seeded Villanova in San Antonio, posted a photograph of a hand-written, homemade scouting report on the Duke Blue Devils done by 9-year-old Jay Jay long before either Howard ever knew Kansas and Duke would meet in the Elite Eight with a trip to the Final Four on the line.

The story, from Howard’s post, goes like this:

> “So about 3 months ago I was home
> watching film and doing my scouting
> report on another team, and Jay Jay
> asks if he could help. I said no but
> you should pick a good team that you
> know and have seen play before and
> write up your own scouting report. He
> picked Duke, not knowing we would end
> up playing (them) in an epic game to
> go to the Final Four. I promise you I
> can’t make this up! #itwasinthemaking”

Jay Jay’s scout featured five key points at the top, ranging from how and where to guard and keep Duke’s players on offense to the importance of getting on the glass for KU’s defense, — KU won that rebounding battle 47-32, you might remember — and also included what he dubbed a “Note” at the bottom that simply read:

“I decided to make my own scouting report because I and you don’t want to lose again and Duke has a lot of weaknesses so (what) I decided to do is weaknesses on the team and best players. The reason I did Duke is that, if we know all their weaknesses, we should know a lot of weaknesses about other teams. So right now KU is 0-0. Let’s have a streak. Rock Chalk Jayhawk Go KUUUU!”

It was signed “Jay Jay Howard.”

And, according to KU coach Bill Self, it was quite impressive.

“I actually saw a little bit,” Self said Tuesday. “I couldn’t blow it up on my phone, so I couldn’t really read all of it, even with my glasses on. He was right on point. I think that we should have Jay Jay actually doing more of the scout than his dad after reading it. I said, ‘He’s better.’ But I thought it was pretty cute. But it was done I guess three months ago, so I guess he had a little foresight into what was getting ready to happen.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyb8st1-WTM

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.