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Who is Dusty May? Michigan basketball hires FAU coach to lead team after Juwan Howard

Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORK
·6 min read

As the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament continued into Saturday night, a notable piece of news away from the floor caught the attention of the collective college basketball world.

Dusty May, the Florida Atlantic coach who became the most sought-after candidate in this year’s coaching carousel, accepted the Michigan coaching position, the Detroit Free Press confirmed.

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After leading Florida Atlantic to the Final Four last season, May inhabited the role that Brad Stevens and Shaka Smart did last decade as a mid-major coach who was highly coveted by programs across college basketball’s predominant conferences.

Following the Owls’ 77-65 overtime loss to Northwestern in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday, May had his choice of suitors to select from, a group that reportedly also included Louisville and Vanderbilt.

Ultimately, he chose Michigan, where he’ll replace Juwan Howard, a Wolverines legend as a player who was fired after going 8-24 in 2023-24, setting a program record for losses in a season. Howard’s teams went 87-72 in his five seasons in Ann Arbor.

So what are the Wolverines getting in their new coach, the man entrusted to help get the proud program back to regular NCAA Tournament appearances and into consistent Big Ten title contention?

Here’s everything you need to know about May:

REQUIRED READING: Dusty May contract, buyout details as Michigan basketball hires Florida Atlantic coach

Who is Dusty May?

May will arrive at Michigan following a six-year run at Florida Atlantic, which was his first head-coaching job.

While he did admirable work with the program prior in his first four seasons, he became one of the hottest names in college coaching after the Owls made a run to the 2023 Final Four as a 9 seed. Florida Atlantic entered that tournament having never won a game in college basketball’s marquee postseason event.

On that path to the national semifinals, the Owls defeated 8 seed Memphis, 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson (which had upset 1 seed Purdue two days earlier), 4 seed Tennessee and 3 seed Kansas State. In the Final Four, Florida Atlantic came within a second of reaching the national championship game, but San Diego State’s Lamont Butler hit a jumper as time expired to give his team a 72-71 victory.

May returned all of his top scorers from that team, allowing the Owls to enter the 2023-24 season with a No. 9 ranking in the preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. Florida Atlantic, which was playing its first season in the American Athletic Conference after moving over from Conference USA, finished 25-9 this season and earned an 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Dusty May coaching record

In his six seasons at Florida Atlantic, May’s teams went 126-69, including a 60-13 mark in his final two seasons.

Under May, the Owls never finished a season below .500, an impressive feat at a program that had just five winning seasons in the 25 years before his hiring. Indeed, Florida Atlantic had been a perennial loser prior to May’s arrival in 2018.

Despite having attracted proven coaches earlier in its history — among them, former North Carolina coach Matt Doherty, former St. John’s coach Mike Jarvis and former NBA coach Michael Curry — the Owls had made only one NCAA Tournament. The school had subpar facilities even relative to its peers. May accepted the job without having seen Florida Atlantic’s arena, locker room and weight room. Upon seeing them, he felt instant regret, which he expressed to his wife upon returning from the university’s Boca Raton, Florida campus.

"I walk in the room and I started crying and said, 'I just committed career suicide. I'm not good enough. I can't do this,'" May told CBS Sports in March 2023.

Here was May’s year-by-year record at Florida Atlantic:

  • 2018-19: 17-16 (8-10 Conference USA)

  • 2019-20: 17-15 (8-10 CUSA)

  • 2020-21: 13-10 (7-5 CUSA)

  • 2021-22: 19-15 (11-7 CUSA)

  • 2022-23: 35-4 (18-2 CUSA)

  • 2023-24: 25-9 (14-4 American Athletic Conference)

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Dusty May coaching career

Prior to becoming Florida Atlantic’s head coach, May spent 13 years as a full-time Division I assistant coach, most recently at Florida and Louisiana Tech, where he worked under current Georgia coach Mike White.

Here’s a look at May’s previous coaching stops:

  • 2005-06: Eastern Michigan, assistant coach

  • 2006-07: Murray State, assistant coach

  • 2007-09: UAB, assistant coach

  • 2009-15: Louisiana Tech, assistant coach

  • 2015-18: Florida, assistant coach

  • 2018-24: Florida Atlantic, head coach

Dusty May age

May is 47 years old, having been born on Dec. 30, 1976.

Dusty May salary

During the 2023-24 season, May earned $1.25 million during the 2023-24 season, as reported by The Palm Beach Post in April 2023.

After leading Florida Atlantic to the Final Four, May signed a 10-year contract extension that was announced on April 8, 2023. Under the terms of the deal, May received a 5% pay raise each year, along with performance incentives:

  • $250,000 for national championship

  • $150,000 for national championship game appearance

  • $100,000 for Final Four appearance

  • $75,000 for Elite Eight appearance

  • $50,000 for Sweet 16 appearance

  • $30,000 for winning NCAA Tournament game

  • $25,000 for NCAA Tournament bid

Dusty May buyout

Under the terms of the 10-year extension May signed last year, Florida Atlantic would be owed $1 million if May took a job elsewhere after Feb. 29, 2024.

Dusty May Indiana

Though it’s in a state other than Michigan, May has extensive Big Ten experience. If anything, he was born and raised in the conference.

May is from Solsberry, Indiana, and attended and played basketball at Eastern Greene High in nearby Bloomfield, Indiana. May didn’t travel particularly far for college, heading only 15 miles east to Bloomington, Indiana, where he attended Indiana.

While May didn’t play basketball for the Hoosiers, he had an up-close look at the program, serving as a student manager for four years under then-coach Bob Knight.

"You would see how much love former players had for him, and as a coach that's a testament of preparing them for life and knowing that you really, really cared about them," May said to The Palm Beach Post in November 2023 after Knight’s death. “The people that worked for him have a bond. The main reason is because of how demanding he is of everyone around him. That's why so many people were prepared to be successful when they left."

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Who is Dusty May? Coaching record for FAU coach, Michigan basketball hire