Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May, who cut his teeth as a basketball coach as Indiana's manager under Bob Knight in the 1990s, will return to the Big Ten. May is now a Michigan man.
More than 24 hours after the No. 8 seed FAU team was eliminated by Northwestern University in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Maye agreed to a five-year contract on Saturday to become the next coach of the Michigan Wolverines. School principal Santa Ono announced the move shortly after CBS Sports reported May's decision.
May, 47, led FAU to the NCAA Tournament in each of the past two seasons, totaling 60 wins during that span, including a trip to the Final Four in 2023 as a No. 9 seed. He leaves FAU after six winning seasons, after taking over a program that never finished above .500 in the seven seasons prior to his arrival.
May will replace former coach Juwan Howard. He was fired from his position earlier this month. After the 8-24 season. Howard was 87-72 in five seasons, but just 24-40 in his final two years in Ann Arbor. The University of Michigan finished last in the Big Ten race with a record of 3 wins and 17 losses, the program's first last place finish in nearly 60 years.
Given Maye's profile as one of the brightest young up-and-coming coaches in the sport, the University of Michigan, along with the University of Louisville and Vanderbilt University, was able to snag Maye in the middle of a hot race of schools to sign him. I swooped in. A potential destination for him too.
May went 126-69 in six seasons at FAU, helping to instill a winning culture at a place with little history of success in men's basketball. The Owls were a highly touted team in the 2023-24 season, reaching the Final Four and finishing in the top 10 in the preseason rankings, but they earned the No. 8 seed and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In the end it didn't meet my expectations. Northwestern won 77-65 in overtime on Friday. FAU finished this season with a record of 25 wins and 9 losses, a first in the American Athletic Conference.
A return to the Big Ten should be familiar territory for May, an Indiana University graduate and former student manager under Bob Knight and the Hoosiers. He has also worked his way to becoming one of the most coveted coaches in the country after stints at Indiana, USC, Eastern Michigan, Murray State, Louisiana Tech, UAB and Florida State.
