Dusty May opens up on difficult decision to leave FAU for Michigan

Dusty May’s name came off the coaching carousel on Saturday with him leaving Florida Atlantic after six seasons for Michigan. Now, in the aftermath of his decision to leave Boca Rotan for Ann Arbor, May explained why his new job was the one to get him.

May spoke about becoming the Wolverines’ next head coach in a report by The Associated Press. He said, in this era of collegiate sports, being at a place with the resources of Michigan has its perks. That includes an NIL approach and a fanbase that made it the gig for him.

“That’s when I realized the magnitude of the block M – how powerful it was, how much pride people have in that symbol,” said May. “Today, in this NIL era where everything is becoming almost completely transactional, that Michigan is still a place that has transformational values.”

“NIL is important. But, to me personally, I felt like everyone associated with that M had so much pride in it,” May said. “That’s why this was the fit.”

May went 126-69 (.646) in his time with the Owls since 2018. Most of his success came in the past two seasons where the program went 60-13 (.816). One was in Conference USA and one in the American with both earning selections to the NCAA Tournament.

This year’s berth didn’t go as well after an opening-round, 77-65 loss in overtime to Northwestern. However, no one will forget last season’s finish after they made it to the Final Four and were a game-winner away from appearing in the national championship.

Florida Atlantic was May’s first head-coaching job, which made it special for him regardless of the success he had there. It even reached the point where he hoped that some of the interest around him over the past year or so would die down so he didn’t necessarily have to pick a new place over them.

“This place allowed me to be extremely selective, to take the job that was the perfect fit,” said May. “I would never feel any remorse if I was at FAU forever. I almost wanted these other jobs to go away, to get filled, so I wouldn’t have a decision to make.”

May will be taking over for Juwan Howard after Michigan fired him to end his five-year tenure. The former member of the Fab Five went 87-72 (.547) leading his alma mater, including their 8-24 finish this year.

It looked like, on the outside at least, that it was only a matter of time before May left FAU. Now that he has, what Michigan has to offer seems to be what sealed his deal for him to take over the maize & blue.