Michigan basketball head coach candidates: 4 names to know to replace Juwan Howard

This story has been updated to reflect Nate Oats' potential contract extension at Alabama.

The Michigan basketball program is in need of a new head coach, after Juwan Howard was relieved of his duties Friday by athletic director Warde Manuel.

Michigan went 87-72 in five years under Howard and he led the Wolverines to a 2021 Big Ten championship and then Elite Eight before he was named AP Coach of the Year in 2021, but after that it was a steady decline. U-M made the Sweet 16 as an 11-seed the following season, but Howard missed five regular-season games serving a suspension for smacking Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft in the face.

Last year, Michigan missed the tournament for the second time in more than a decade despite having an All-American and two top-15 NBA draft picks on the roster before the wheels completely fell off this season.

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Michigan (8-24, 3-17 Big Ten) lost the most games in program history, finished in the Big Ten basement for the first time since 1966-67 and didn't win a game away from Crisler Center for the final three months.

Now, it will be up to someone else to clean up the mess. Here's a list of candidates who could be on Manuel's list to try and reverse that course.

ANALYSIS: Michigan had no choice but to let Juwan Howard go. Now comes the harder part.

Dusty May, Florida Atlantic

He has already emerged as one of the top names on Ohio State's wishlist, per reports out of Columbus, so it wouldn't be a surprise if the U-M brass gave a call to a young, up-and-coming coach with Midwest ties.

May, 47, was born in Illinois and went to college at Indiana, where he was a manager for the late, legendary coach Bobby Knight from 1996-2000. However, the Hoosiers elected to keep Mike Woodson for at least one more season, so it's unclear whether May will try to wait out the job at his alma mater or strike while the iron is hot and jump from FAU to a Power Five job.

May's most notable tie to Michigan is his seasons (2005-06) as an assistant up the street at Eastern Michigan, the first of five separate stops as an assistant over 15 years climbing the coaching ranks from Murray State and UAB (where he worked under former Detroit Mercy coach Mike Davis), to Louisiana Tech and Florida before he took over the Owls in 2018.

May is 125-67 at FAU and put himself on the map last season when FAU went 35-3 en route to the school's first Final Four.

Brian Dutcher, San Diego State

On the other end of his coaching career arc, there's Brian Dutcher, another familiar face around Ann Arbor who has gone on to have a great deal of success elsewhere.

Even though he has strong ties to Michigan's program — he was an assistant for nine years under Steve Fisher beginning in the 1989 championship season and lasting through the Fab Five days until 1998 — this isn't as simple as saying it's a no-brainer for a coach going from a mid-major job to one of the 10-20 biggest brands in America.

For starters, San Diego State was in the national championship last season, which earned him a new five-year contract. That's reported to be $2.3 million per year, which U-M could double if needed. Also, he's 64, which is on the later side when trying to revive a program, but not unheard of.

There's no doubt he's a proven winner. Dutcher was an 18-year assistant at SDSU before he took over for Fisher in 2017. He will make it five NCAA tournament appearances in seven years with the Aztecs when their name is called on Selection Sunday.

WHO'S BACK: Juwan Howard is gone. What about Michigan basketball's roster?

T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State

Here's another hot name in the coaching cycle.

He has climbed the ranks the old-fashioned way, winning multiple Summit League championships with South Dakota State, then taking over a job with some cache at UNLV before finally landing a Power Five gig in Ames. He did one of the nation's more remarkable coaching jobs in 2022, when he took a two-win Iowa State team from the year before and led them to a Sweet 16 appearance. His 2-4 NCAA tournament record, however, features three one-and-done exits.

Iowa State, which should be at worst a 4-seed this March, is hoping to make another deep tournament run.

A Milwaukee native, he has some Midwest roots. But they're notably not as strong as some of the other candidates. Does his status as a proven recruiter at just 46 years old deliver a lot of upside? Perhaps, as long as an athletic department allows him the time to build things in his image.

John Beilein

Laugh all you want, but it's worth a phone call, right? Just to see if that itch is left or if there's any chance he has something like a three-year run in him as a springboard for the program to get back to where, well, he left it.

At least make him say no.

John Beilein could have a statue in Ann Arbor for what he did for the Wolverines. He took over a program in 2007 that hadn't gone to the NCAA tournament in a decade and he made March runs an expectation. After a 10-22 season in his first year, Beilein finished below .500 only once more (15-17 in 2009-10) in his tenure in Ann Arbor.

After that season, U-M made the NCAAs in eight of the next nine years, which included two trips to the national championship game, an Elite Eight and two Sweet 16s. Michigan basketball won two regular-season Big Ten titles (2012, 2014) and two Big Ten tournament titles (2017, 2018), which helped Beilein get inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022.

At 71, and already having endured heart surgery, Beilein likely wouldn't be long for the position. However, Michigan basketball has never been close to as stable and respected as it was in the decade-plus under Beilein.

So, why not start with him?

Beilein hasn't been a head coach since leaving the Cavaliers in 2020, but he hasn't been away from the game that whole time either. The Detroit Pistons hired him as the senior adviser of player development, a role he served in from 2021-23, working closely on shooting techniques with players. He has worked as a studio analyst for Big Ten Network this season.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball head coach candidates: 4 to replace Juwan Howard