The defending national champions need a new head coach.
On Monday, Michigan coach Dusty May agreed to become the head coach of the Mavericks, according to multiple reports, leaving the Wolverines two months after leading them to their first national title since 1989.
Coincidentally, the last college head coach to take an NBA job was former Michigan coach John Beilein with the Cavaliers in 2019. Beilein didn’t even survive a full regular season in the pros, resigning after amassing a 14-40 record in Cleveland. May went 64–13 in two seasons at Michigan.
May has been on NBA radars for months, as Front Office Sports previously reported he was interested in coaching in the league and was on the Magic’s radar, among other teams. Orlando ultimately hired Spurs assistant Sean Sweeney for its head coaching vacancy.
The 49-year-old is the first major hire for team president Masai Ujiri and general manager Mike Schmitz, who were hired in May to move the organization past the highly criticized Luka Dončić trade and build the team around Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg. The Mavericks also explored hiring Duke coach Jon Scheyer, who coached Flagg and forward Derrick Lively II in college.
May has never coached in the NBA and was previously the head coach of Florida Atlantic, which he led to the 2023 Final Four, but he has other ties to the Dallas organization. He was a basketball manager at Indiana under Bob Knight alongside Theo Hodges, the Mavericks’ chief venue officer. Minority owner Mark Cuban is also an Indiana graduate.
After defeating Connecticut in the national championship game, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said at the Wolverines on-campus celebration that he and May had agreed to a new deal that would keep him at the school “for many years to come.” But a Freedom of Information Act request by FOS indicated that “a record reflecting the contract extension is not yet finalized.”
May told FOS in late April that the deal was agreed to, but wouldn’t be finalized until July and was just “a formality.” When asked about coaching in the NBA, he talked around the question.
“I mean, obviously we all think about that as younger coaches,” May said of coaching in the NBA. “But no it’s not something…our full attention has been on building this roster and plans of hopefully competing for a championship again next year.”
May’s departure is a blow for the Wolverines, who have lost both football coach Jim Harbaugh and its basketball coach after winning the national title in their respective sports since 2023. The school is investigating its athletic department for its operations after football coach Sherrone Moore, who replaced Harbaugh after he left for the Chargers, was arrested in December.
History has been a mixed bag for college coaches who have jumped to the NBA. Larry Brown remains the lone coach to win a championship in both college (Kansas in 1988) and the NBA (the Pistons in 2004), while Billy Donovan and Brad Stevens have had strong regular seasons but inconsistent postseason results at the NBA level.
Since May never signed his new contract with Michigan, he now owes the school $5 million according to his current contract. Had May left Michigan before April 30, he would have owed $7 million.
A Michigan spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment.
