The Dallas Mavericks have hired Michigan’s championship-winning coach Dusty May in a seismic move.
May and the Wolverines won the NCAA championship with a 69-63 victory over UConn in April to wrap up a 34-3 season. They opened the NCAA Tournament by becoming the first team ever to score at least 90 points in five consecutive games.
The last coach to make the step from college to the NBA was John Beilein, who took the Cleveland Cavaliers job in 2019. Like May, Beilein also left Michigan for the job.
That came three years after May led Florida Atlantic to its only Final Four appearance. The Owls returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2024 before May was hired by Michigan.
The 49-year-old May replaces Jason Kidd, who was let go two weeks after Masai Ujiri was hired as president of basketball operations and alternate governor of the Mavericks.
He comes to the NBA with a chance to mold 2025 No. 1 overall draft pick and reigning Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg. Veteran star Kyrie Irving is also on the roster for now after missing the entire 2025-26 season following an ACL year in March of last year.
The Dallas Mavericks have hired Michigan’s championship-winning coach Dusty May
May will team up with 2025 No. 1 overall draft pick and Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg
May began his college coaching career as an assistant at Murray State in 2005-06. He then served on staffs at UAB, Louisiana Tech and Florida before getting his first head coaching job at Florida Atlantic.
The Owls went 35-4 during their dream season in 2022-23, which ended with a 72-71 loss to San Diego State in the national semifinals after Lamont Butler hit a buzzer-beating shot for the Aztecs.
‘I was a fan of Dusty’s when he was at FAU,’ said Yaxel Lendeborg, who played for May at Michigan and is widely expected to be a lottery pick in the first round of Tuesday´s NBA draft. ‘And now, after playing for him, I’m a bigger fan. I have so much respect for Dusty May, I can’t even tell you.’
Lendeborg said at last month´s draft combine that he felt like May ran Michigan´s program like an NBA program in many ways.
‘He taught us a lot of things that are being used in the NBA now,’ Lendeborg said. ‘A lot of schemes, a lot of switching and stuff. And his offense was very much a pro-style offense. We played fast-paced, physical, all of that. … I’ve gained so much knowledge from him as far as those actions and just those little communication keys.’
May´s rise in coaching has been meteoric, particularly after the last four seasons.
He took over at Florida Atlantic in 2018 and had four consecutive seasons of finishing just over .500 – before striking gold in the 2022-23 season, going 35-4 and taking the Owls on that improbable Final Four run.
He went 25-9 at FAU the following season, then went to Michigan and brought the Wolverines back to prominence. Michigan went 27-10 two seasons ago before the run to the championship.
May´s record in his last four college seasons was 124-26, an .827 winning percentage that was third best in all of major college men´s basketball over that span behind Houston’s Kelvin Sampson (.861) and Duke’s Jon Scheyer (.832).
