3 takeaways from Dusty May as Michigan basketball head coach

Saturday was a crazy day in the Michigan basketball head-coaching search. But what’s important is that it ended with Dusty May as the Wolverines head coach.

It seemed as though May was going to Louisville on Saturday morning. That’s what we learned from sources. Yet, it appears that May changed his mind. What caused that, we aren’t sure.

But this hire is a win for Michigan basketball. When the program is run correctly, it should be able to compete with the best in college basketball. This hire is an encouraging sign and here are three initial takeaways on Dusty May as head coach.

Warde Manuel got it done

There’s a reason everyone was saying Dusty May was going to Louisville. It was going to happen and something changed. It’s hard to know exactly what that was. Maybe we’ll get all the details someday.

But we have to give credit to Warde Manuel. Like the hire or not, and some Michigan basketball fans don’t seem to love it, May was one of the biggest names on the market. Ohio State and Louisville were both interested. He’s coached a team to the Final Four and made the NCAA tournament twice.

The FAU winning percentage also improved in each of his first five seasons and he did it without leaning heavily on the transfer portal. He also coached his team to the Final Four without a top-100 recruit.

Most importantly, Michigan landed maybe the biggest name left on the market and that’s huge. There is work to do, especially on the NIL front, but May has shown he doesn’t need a huge war chest to win.

A perfect fit

I thought May would be a good fit for Michigan basketball based on how he wants to build his roster. FAU returned 12 players from last season’s team which is amazing in this era, for a team that reached the Final Four.

FAU isn’t known for its NIL prowess, as far as I know. Yet, it’s impressive that May was able to retain all those guys from the Final Four team. He’s recruited and developed most of the roster and that’s what the next Michigan coach will need to do.

Transfers will need to be added for next season. That’s just based on the state of the roster — some might even come over from FAU. But May knows how to build for the long haul. It’s how he’s worked his entire head coaching career and with his Midwest ties (graduated from Indiana), you can expect more Midwest recruits at Michigan.

You can also expect them to stay. Retention was a strength of his at FAU and that will be an essential talent for every head coach moving forward in college basketball.

May is proven

May is a risk but he’s proven he can win college basketball games as a head coach. You don’t have six straight winning seasons by accident or make a Final Four. He’s recruited and developed well. May also takes advantage of analytics and there is a focus on fundamentals.

Michigan basketball could add some players via the portal and make the tournament next season. But high school recruiting needs to be a focus again. May knows how to take slightly lower-ranked players and turn them into something else. He’ll need to do that in the Big Ten, but he’s done it before.

Nearly his entire team was recruited and developed in-house.  They got better over time and eventually reached a championship level. Sound familiar?

That’s what John Beilein used to do. Beilein traveled to be part of the meeting with May according to Chris Balas of  The Wolverine, which seems like an endorsement and if it is, that’s all I need to hear. May has won 60 games in the past two seasons and if he could win 20 games next season, he’d feel like a miracle worker. I wouldn’t put it past him though.

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