Dusty May on why he took the Michigan job: ‘To be around excellence every day’
Michigan basketball coach Dusty May was one of the most sought-after coaches in the country after leading Florida Atlantic to a Final Four two years ago, followed by the NCAA Tournament this season. May told us several weeks ago in our interview with him he knew he wanted the job when it opened … he recently told Big Ten Network’s Rick Pizzo why.
“To be around excellence every day, the brand, the reputation of the athletic department and the university and what it represents,” May said. “It made sense for a lot of reasons. [I’ve since found] how connected all teams, all groups are. The coaches are close — they all work together, and it’s just everyone is pulling in the same direction.
“We’re all sharing ideas because there’s so much new to our profession now … to coaching. Their humility — they give us their time, their staffs, they help us around with official visits and things like that.”
The power of the brand was even more pronounced than he expected, May told us. It’s opened doors internationally, and he and his staff benefited by adding eight players to the roster he expects to help the Wolverines win in year one.
Though he admits he’s still learning and adapting, May has a handle on what it takes to win and what makes a great program. His vision for his teams should excite Michigan fans.
“We’ll play fast,” May said. “We shoot a lot of threes. We try not to walk the ball up and down the court. We want as much action as possible. But more importantly, [we want] a real togetherness amongst our group. The way they interact with each other — the way they interact with fans. It’s something we’ve kind of branded ourselves as being really unique.
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“Any recruit, we want them to watch us play and say, ‘I want to be part of that. I want to be coached by those guys, and I want to play with those players.’ Those are the things we’re looking at first. If we can get a great player though the high school ranks, prep school ranks, junior college, the portal — it doesn’t really matter. We’re trying to get guys that fit us, that want to be coached by us, and value the same things we value.”
In doing so, May said, they’ll build a basketball family. If the past is an indicator, it should lead to some great success.
“A real mutual respect among each other,” Day said of his expectations. “It’s a collaboration. We lean on our players a lot for what we could be doing better, and we give them ownership within our program and all things.
“Ultimately, we have to make the final decisions. But it’s a true collaboration, and we value the input of our players.”
