According to numerous reports out of Dallas, the Mavericks are preparing to hire reigning Men’s NCAA National Champion Dusty May of the Michigan Wolverines.
Across two seasons in Ann Arbor, May led his Wolverines squads to a combined 64-13 record, including the 2025-26 National Championship. He becomes the first collegiate head coach to make the jump to an NBA head coaching job since John Beilein was chosen to lead the 2019 Cleveland Cavaliers.
May will now be charged with leading the next generation of Mavericks, including former top pick Cooper Flagg. He takes over for Jason Kidd who was let go at the end of last season after posting a 26-56 record. Despite having 4 years, and roughly $40M remaining on his contract, Kidd was ushered out when new president and alternate governor Masai Ujiri has tapped to take over the franchise’s basketball operations department.
Interestingly, reports suggest that Dallas also checked in with Flagg’s former head coach at Duke, Jon Scheyer, before zeroing in on May. The 49 year old’s departure from Michigan is sure to have wide spread ramifications amongst the collegiate ranks as well.
With May heading to the NBA, Michigan’s players can review their commitments as they will now have a 15-day transfer window as per NCAA rules. Some of the higher profile transfers who joined the Wolverines this offseason include J.P. Estrella, Moustapha Thiam, and Jalen Reed. What the coaching change means for their future plans remains to be seen.
For now, Michigan will look to replace May quickly, possibly going with an internal promotion to someone like assistant coach Mike Boynton. The alternative would be to cast a wider net and go with a nation wide search, though the clock will certainly be ticking as U of M players will certainly be exploring their options as well.
Photo: TonyTheTiger. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.