Dusty May talks Michigan, final FAU team, future of Owls in farewell address
Dusty May's farewell from Boca Raton included a final radio address to the South Florida basketball community addressing his departure from FAU, aspirations at Michigan and the future of Owls men's basketball.
May appeared Monday morning on ESPN 106.3 FM with Ken LaVicka, the lead play-by-play broadcaster for FAU athletics, in a wide-ranging half-hour interview before the head coach departed for Ann Arbor. He is set to be introduced as Michigan's next head basketball coach on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
After six years of historic success with the FAU men's basketball team, May offered fans a glimpse at his final hours with the program, favorite moments, regrets and hopes for his successor.
"This place left such a mark on me," May said. "I look forward to being part of FAU basketball forever."
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Search firms target Dusty May
May acknowledged he was the focal point of numerous college basketball search firms over the last few months and felt some fatigue in trying to keep the focus on the 2024 Owls.
Inquiries increased and were more serious compared to during the 2023 Final Four run while the speculative winds of social media chatter swung May's future in different directions daily.
He said he told his wife that "deep down" he wished the search firms would go a different direction to allow him to focus on FAU. They didn't.
May's departure for Ann Arbor was leaked late Saturday night to ESPN NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski just over 24 hours after FAU was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in Brooklyn.
Dusty May on Michigan
May's affinity for the Big 10 is well-documented and the 47-year-old from Peoria, Illinois was thought to be a logical future Indiana coach given his roots under legendary Hoosiers coach Bob Knight.
The Wolverines ultimately won May's hand, however, after a Michigan delegation met with May in Fort Lauderdale after the Owls' elimination.
"The power of that brand and the amount of pride people had in it, it always felt unique," May said. "I don't necessarily know why, but at different parts of our lives certain things have just felt right.
"I think we can win at an extremely high level there and recruit nationally. I think we have everything we need to be successful so at this point for me it just felt right."
The college basketball coaching carousel left a number of big head coach positions open during the first weekend of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, with Louisville, Ohio State and Vanderbilt commanding significant speculation.
May didn't specify which schools pursued most closely but acknowledged that he had a few options at the season's end.
"All of them are providing generational wealth," May said. "All of them are providing the bells and whistles to be successful. It just came down to fit.
"I grew up in Big 10 country. I watched Big 10 basketball every day of my life until I moved away from it. It's a unique challenge to go back to your roots once you've raised a family. The feel and the fit, it was sort of the same reason I took this job here."
Ann Arbor will be a homecoming of sorts for the May family: May's son Eli was born there during the coach's time as an assistant at Eastern Michigan.
Dusty May's regrets at FAU
The euphoria of FAU's run to the Final Four also carried the promise of next year as the Owls returned all but one player for the 2024 season.
The Owls' encore was very good with 25 wins and a Top 25 ranking for much of the season, but the group's "last ride" wasn't as consistent as the year before and the team finished without a championship.
A tricky NCAA Tournament draw alongside reigning champion UConn ended prematurely in a disappointing first-round loss to Northwestern in the 8-9 matchup.
"I wish we could've taken this team a little further," May said. "We didn't max out as a group. Rarely do you. I wish we'd taken last year's team one game further. This team, we had a great season and it was much, much better than most in our situation with everything that was thrown at us in quick pace."
May said "a new challenge" may benefit those involved with FAU's basketball program.
"That group had grown a year and they all wanted a little bit more," May said. "Everyone was a little frustrated in their role. Because of the attention we received and all the things that come with the modern athlete and program, we weren't quite as cohesive.
"I told the guys that last year we were in the 100th percentile for team cohesion. This year, we were in the 95th percentile. It was still exceptional, but it wasn't the standard we set for ourselves. It just felt different."
Among other regrets? A lack of promotion for public safety.
"Should've worn a helmet more when riding the bike," he laughed. "That was a little dangerous."
Most cherished moment
Unsurprisingly, FAU's moment on the Final Four's national stage ranked highly on May's list of top moments, but he chose a more intimate achievement as his most cherished memory.
May's favorite — a 75-49 victory over UTEP on Feb. 25, 2023, which saw the Owls cut down nets for the Conference USA regular season title on their home court of in front of 3,130 original supporters.
"Anybody that was important with the growth of our program and building it, was in the same spot, in a familiar place where it happened," May said. "Where all the work went into it.
"My most cherished moment will be cutting down the nets on our home court with Boca there, family and friends. It was a celebration of something special and little did we know it would be a blip of what we were about to do."
May's thoughts on a successor
The former Owls head coach deferred to athletic director Brian White regarding his successor but gave a plug for members of the coaching staff who helped build the FAU program.
There are also assistants at Power 5 conferences, such as Georgia assistants Akeem Miskdeen and Erik Pastrana, who played a role in the early years of the program and have admired its success from afar.
"Obviously I would have a preference to hire from within," May said. "Brian is going to make the right decision for FAU and this basketball program, just like he's done for all the other sports. I do think there's institutional knowledge as to how it was built and it wasn't just me. It was brick by brick, fan-by-fan, call-by-call.
"There are guys on our current staff that are equipped to do the job. It's just a matter of whether it's the right time or situation."
Sustainability of FAU hoops
May expressed his hope that FAU could build its program to the stature of Gonzaga, which erupted from obscurity under Dan Monson in the late 1990s to become one of college basketball's most consistent programs of the 21st century under Mark Few.
"It's sustainable," May said of FAU men's basketball. "It's ready to move into the next chapter with a lot of built-in advantages. An identity where people recognize the name and the brand. So there are a lot of things that make this place a lot more attractive than it was two or three years ago."
It's a stark contrast from the pessimism that left May feeling as if he'd committed "career suicide" upon his arrival in Boca Raton.
"The infrastructure is improving daily," May said. "It's a place that can continue to improve in all sports. There are great coaches here and there is a commitment to improving the facilities. So I would be excited about the future of FAU.
"I know when I come back or sneak away for vacation, I'm confident I'll drive through FAU and see continuous improvement."
Eric J. Wallace is deputy sports editor for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at ejwallace@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dusty May talks Michigan, final FAU team, future of Owls in farewell
