Dusty May addresses decision to choose Michigan over Louisville

This week, former Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May accepted the head coaching job at Michigan, choosing the Wolverines over Louisville — a decision he explained in his first press conference.

The Louisville coaching search moves fast, with a new development every few hours, so if you don’t stop to read about the chaos, you might miss it.

To recount, Kenny Payne was fired immediately after the season ended and Louisville reportedly first reached out with a mega offer for Baylor’s Scott Drew, who decided to stay put. FAU’s Dusty May was the next option, and he chose to take the Michigan job instead, but not without plenty of drama.

So May is now at Michigan, and following a roller-coaster news cycle regarding his candidacy at Louisville, May explained why he ultimately landed in Ann Arbor vs. the Derby City at his opening press conference:

“Louisville is an unbelievable basketball school, but this was the right fit for me, my family, and it just felt right,” said May.

“I’m a big feel guy, I’m a big fit guy. And from day one, this was one that I just thought would match me and allow me and those around me to have the highest level of success doing it the way that we enjoy doing it.”

Those comments came a day after Louisville media and May himself assured folks that he did not receive death threats from Cardinal fans.

“I’ve been off social media since our last game. . .And so I wasn’t even aware of all this until just recently. If I have been (threatened), I have no knowledge of it because I haven’t checked or looked and haven’t heard anything about it,” May said of the rumor that he received death threats, which started on Bob Valvano’s radio show.

Valvano is the color analyst on Louisville basketball radio broadcasts and said the other day that May had received death threats and that was part of the reason he chose Michigan over Louisville. However, local reporter Tim Sullivan dug into that claim and got those quotes from May denying it.

According to additional tweets from Sullivan, Valvano walked back the death threat claim and said that he thought he heard May received death threats from Josh Schertz, another Louisville coaching candidate and a good friend of May who is currently at Indiana State.

“Maybe he (Schertz) said he (May) was really not comfortable with the kind of response he got and I said he was getting death threats and everything. In hindsight, maybe I brought it up,” said Valvano.

“It was such an inconsequential part of the conversation. If I said it, he didn’t stop me. If he said it, I didn’t stop him. Cause neither of us thought it was that big a deal. . .but it’s got a life of its own now,” he added.

It certainly did take on a life of its own. But May has roundly denied that he ever received threats from Louisville fans and made sure that was known after accepting the Michigan job.

“Nothing scared me about Louisville. It’s just that Michigan was the right fit for me and my family,” said May, per Sullivan. “I love (Louisville athletic director) Josh (Heird). I met with several people and they were all professional. They were all first-class.”

Now, Michigan has its man while Louisville’s search marches on.