Warde Manuel recalls the process of hiring Dusty May

Warde Manuel hired Dusty May to be the next basketball coach of the Michigan Wolverines at the end of March. It was one based on what he had noticed about him months prior, though, with his last program at FAU.

Manuel detailed how May came to be the maize & blue’s next head coach during an interview with The Michigan Insider. He said that, as an athletic director, it starts with occasionally watching different teams and, as such, different coaches across the country while observing who has an effect on him.

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“Well, you know, as I do in a lot of sports, I take a look and understand the landscape that’s out there,” said Manuel. “You’re watching games. As I tell my wife, I’m not just watching games just to watch games, you know. At times, I’m watching people and coaches and how their style is.

“The evaluation process doesn’t just start the day you make the decision. It’s over time. You have a sense,” Manuel continued. “I don’t – you know, the old adage was ADs have a list in a drawer. Well, I happen to have a list in my mind of different people that I’m impressed with at different sports.”

One of those people happened to be May at Florida Atlantic.

Through six seasons in Boca Raton, May led the Owls to a record of 126-69 (.646) overall. His past pair of seasons highlighted his time there at 60-10 (.857) and two appearances in the NCAA Tournament. That included ’22-’23 where FAU went 35-4, won the regular season and league tournament in Conference USA, and made a run to the Final Four. That story came a game-winning buzzer beater shy of playing for the national title.

That run is when Manuel really took note of May. He just didn’t have a job opening for him as they went on with a last year under Juwan Howard.

“I was impressed with Dusty the entire run the year before to the Final Four. The way he handled himself, the way his team played,” said Manuel. “Obviously I wasn’t thinking at the time, you know, that I was going to make a change with Juwan. It’s just, you know, you watch him. I watched others who I was impressed with as well.”

Once that decision came down, Manuel hired May after just over a week. He now heads into his debut at Michigan with plenty of interest in what he can do in Ann Arbor.

“In general, it was a great process to bring him on,” said Manuel.