A Wolverine Life: Catching Up With Chris Howard

By Brian Resutek

As part of the A Wolverine Life series, FAM caught up with former player, Chris Howard, who played with the Wolverines from 1994-1997 and later in the NFL. Chris is currently the executive producer at Mosaic Entertainment Group, in Atlanta, GA.

From Kenner, Louisiana to Ann Arbor

If it was up to his father, Chris wouldn’t have played football. “My dad thought I was too small to play”, Howard said of his youth playing days. Although both his parents worked and coached for the Parks Department of Kenner, it was mom that signed Chris up for football at a cross-town rival, unbeknownst to dad. “One day, a family friend was telling my dad how I scored 6 touchdowns in a game. Dad didn’t even know I was playing football,” laughs Howard when recounting the story. Fast forward a few years, and two men are inside his home talking with his mom and dad about the benefits of John Curtis High School, a powerhouse football program and where Howard would star and attract interest from colleges across America.

Chris Howard on his recruitment to Michigan:

“I had great visits with Tennessee, UCLA, Michigan, Notre Dame and Florida; but Michigan stood out the most to me because they were the only school that talked about academics. I remember the one thing that stood out the most was that Michigan had over 400,000 living, active alumni. For me, that was important because I was always thinking about life after football.

My recruiter was the great, Fred Jackson, and once coach gets in your parent’s ear, ‘it’s a wrap’. Coach Jackson would literally come down to my house with a football and we would run plays in my front yard. All the kids in my neighborhood would be out watching and I thought that personal touch meant something to me; and that I was going to be looked after when thousands of miles from home.”

Campus, Calluses, and Life Lessons

Like most new recruits, Howard got an awakening when two-a-days came his freshman year. Howard recounts that he was fortunate to have former high school teammate, Bobby Powers, a senior on the team aid with transition but the college level was on another scale. Facing off against people like Trent Zenkewicz, Jason Horn and Jarrett Irons as an 18-year-old humbles you pretty quickly. Lloyd Carr would replace Gary Moeller as head coach after Howard’s freshman year. Howard noted that “while nothing significantly changed, there was certainly the sense of uneasiness and uncertainty” surrounding the program at that time. Additionally, it became evident to Howard during that coaching transition of how much business and media exposure take place at a school like Michigan, both good and bad.

Howard regarding highs and lows of playing days

I remember after freshman year, I wanted to transfer along with others because you are not used to sitting around and not playing much. My parents told me to trust the process which was something Michigan also prepares you for.

I had a breakout game my junior year against UCLA scoring 4TDs and rushing for over 100 yards where I realized I could play at this level. A few weeks later, we lost at Northwestern in a game that I fumbled and had to watch Northwestern march down the field and defeat us. I remember being in the doghouse for a bit until Coach Carr and his wisdom decided to put me back in a game in almost the same position as Northwestern and I took the first carry for 86 yards and a TD against Minnesota. Coming to the sideline, I remember Coach Carr saying to me, “That’s why you play this game and that’s why I put you there, I believe in you”. From that moment, my whole mentality changed in terms of preparation and into the 1997 season.

Comparison to of the 1997 team to the 2023 team

I always tell people that the 1997 team was built from those 1994, 1995 and 1996 teams because those teams went through a lot. At some point, you got tired of going through it all and hearing that “M” stands for mediocre and everything else. The 1997 team came together and was galvanized similar to the 2023 team that had to go through 4-5 years of tough times in order to build up a callus, which allowed them to come together as a team and win a national championship.

On to the NFL

“Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to get drafted. So, I watched the draft alone in the dark in my Ann Arbor apartment. Luckily, I got drafted in the 5th round to the Denver Broncos along with Brian Griese that year, which was great. Moved to Jacksonville from Denver and saw that once you get to the NFL level, it’s clear how much of a business the NFL is and almost a revolving door of bodies and I didn’t want to be bouncing around from team to team with injuries, so I made it a fairly short career for me.”

Transition from NFL to the Business World

Post NFL, Chris admitted that “his resume was quite thin” and that he was a bit unprepared for the business world. While the transition was difficult for a few years, or as Chris referred to as a bit “lost in the wilderness”, Howard was able to lean on a lot of his relationships in the entertainment industry and through U of M and land a position with Fox Sports Net (FSN). From FSN, Chris leveraged his abilities and skills to start a PR firm with a partner along with assisting with private equity money specifically in the entertainment industry.

Leverage and Learn.

When asked about his current company Mosaic Entertainment Group, which specializes in the production of reality television, Howard expands:

“I could leverage the relationships that I had built over the years and learn from those individuals. Everything I was able to do was self-taught. I didn’t know how to produce, edit or write a script, it was all self-taught. I had a determination to be really good.”

Describing his work and a day in the life at Mosaic:

Howard specializes in producing reality television and learning how to develop content and character. His first piece was a show called “The Cleaners”, where Howard took the production from A-Z. Howard found a 60-year-old grandmother that also ran a crime-scene cleanup company, a job few people even know exists. Howard recalls, “She drove a yellow and black, Fred Samford looking pickup truck, and her job was cleaning up after crime-scenes; something that families often had to foot the bill and few people realize.” Howard was able to take this initial project and sell the deal to a third-party production company giving him the confidence to continue down the entertainment path.

What’s happening today:

“I’ve been able to bring on a partner to the business. One of our shows (The Express Way with Dule Hill), got nominated for an Emmy and picked up for season two. We have about ten shows in production today.

Everyday we are talking to networks in terms of who they are buying and what they are buying. From that information, we go and look for stories or unique things that might fit the requirements. Howard further expanded upon reaching out, learning the stories and working within the necessary requirements and bringing to a production level. There are lots of moving parts and something he is doing 10-15 times a day.”

Advice to an individual wanting to enter your industry:

“Don’t be afraid to make the cold calls and emails because I had to build relationships, networks and know producers because it’s a relationship business. There is value in having the Michigan relationship to get started, but also stepping outside my comfort zone and let people know what I was doing.”

Rapid Fire

• If not Michigan, where would you have gone: Florida
• Best Road Game Environment: Ohio State
• Best Player you competed Against: Antoine Winfield
• Restaurant in the South for people in the Midwest to experience: Pappadeaux
• Go to place to use a football meal chit: Cottage Inn or Pizza House
• 4th and goal at the 3 yd line to win the game, what’s the call: Chris Howard up the middle
• Traditional 10 teams of the Big Ten or current version: Traditional Big Ten

A Wolverine Life is a series made available to FAM highlighting former members of the Michigan Football program and their lives post-collegiate career. Please feel free to reach out to FAM with any questions or comments about this series.