The Dallas Mavericks are plucking Dusty May from the college ranks and will make him their head coach, a league source confirmed to The Athletic.
May, who led Florida Atlantic to a Final Four appearance in 2023 and won a national championship with Michigan in April, will take charge of a Mavericks team built around reigning Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg.
May, 49, got his start in basketball as a student manager at Indiana under legendary coach Bob Knight. May worked his way up the college ranks before being hired as a first-time head coach at Florida Atlantic in 2018. The Owls went a combined 60-13 in May’s final two seasons before he left for Michigan in 2024.
The two seasons May spent at Michigan were a resounding success. The Wolverines went 27-10 in 2024-25, a 19-win improvement from the previous season. Then last season, Michigan finished with a 37-3 record and defeated Connecticut in the national championship game. Three of the Wolverines’ starters — Yaxel Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara — are expected to be first-round picks in this week’s NBA Draft.
Something new Michigan did before winning national championship
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In May, Mavericks president Masai Ujiri made the decision to move on from coach Jason Kidd, who had four years and more than $40 million remaining on his contract. Ujiri promised to cast a wide net in his search for Kidd’s successor.
The Mavericks expressed interest in San Antonio Spurs associate head coach Sean Sweeney, league sources said, but Sweeney accepted the Orlando Magic head coaching job. The Mavericks also interviewed Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori, league sources said.
Throughout the coaching search, Ujiri looked closely at multiple coaches in the college ranks. Duke’s Jon Scheyer and Florida’s Todd Golden were other names linked to the Mavericks in their search.
Ultimately, Ujiri chose May, who coached one of the most dominant college teams in recent memory last season. Three of his former players are expected to be first-round picks in Tuesday’s NBA Draft.
Michigan and May agreed to a contract extension in April, shortly after the national championship game. But details were not disclosed at the time and it is unclear whether the deal was officially signed.
The Wolverines were expected to be one of the top teams in men’s college basketball again this season, ranking No. 5 in The Athletic’s most recent offseason Top 25. Michigan’s players will have an opportunity to consider their future; current transfer rules state that five days after a new coach is announced, players will have a 15-day period to enter the transfer portal.
