Just more than 24 hours after No. 8 seed FAU was bounced in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Owls coach Dusty May on Saturday agreed to terms to become the next coach at Michigan, the school’s president, Santa Ono, announced.
May, 47, led FAU to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances the last two seasons and to 60 total wins in that span, including a run to the Final Four in 2023 as a No. 9 seed. He leaves FAU after six years where he had six winning seasons after inheriting a program that in the seven seasons prior to his arrival never finished above .500.
May will succeed coach Juwan Howard who was fired from his post as the Michigan coach earlier this month following an 8-24 season. Howard was 87-72 in five seasons but just 24-40 over his final two years in Ann Arbor. Michigan finished the season last in the Big Ten race at 3-17, the program’s first last-place finish in nearly six decades.
Given May’s profile as one of the brightest young and rising coaches in the sport, Michigan appears to have swooped in to snag May amidst what was presumably a thick field of schools hoping to land him, with Louisville and Vanderbilt also considered to be potential destinations for him.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Saturday that Michigan officials moved quickly after FAU’s season-ending loss to close in on him, and May was lured by what the school offered. From ESPN:
Several high-major programs — including Louisville of the ACC and Vanderbilt of the SEC — pursued May as a coaching candidate, but May ultimately became swept away with the alumni network and its fierce loyalty to the university and athletics, sources said. He believes that will help transcend some of the inherently transactional nature of the modern NIL/transfer portal era in recruiting and player retention.
May went 126-69 in six seasons at FAU and helped instill a culture of winning to a place with almost no history of success in men’s basketball. The Owls were a hyped team in 2023-24 after making the Final Four — earning a top-10 preseason ranking — but ultimately fell short of expectations after earning a No. 8 seed and losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Northwestern 77-65 in overtime on Friday. FAU finished 25-9 this season, its first in the American Athletic Conference.
A return to the Big Ten should be familiar territory for May, an Indiana graduate who was once a student manager under Bob Knight and the Hoosiers. He’s also paid his dues in working towards one of the most coveted coaches in the country after stops at Indiana, USC, Eastern Michigan, Murray State, Louisiana Tech, UAB and Florida.
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