Dusty May on building Michigan roster with NIL: 'We had to weigh that in every recruitment'
Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May and his staff are proud that they went “eight for eight” landing recruiting visitors — both transfers and prep prospects — that they pushed for. The Wolverines have one more roster spot to work with after bringing in eight athletes to the fold on top of what was in place when they arrived.
NIL is one of the three main discussion points when speaking with any recruit, May has said, and he embraces it. He’s met with donors in order to boost the amount of money Michigan has in its Champions Circle collective and is all for his players earning opportunities to market themselves.
Michigan’s pool of money has increased since May was hired March 24, so it’s a moving target, but building a roster in today’s college basketball can be compared to working with a salary cap in professional sports (though it’s not exact).
“I’ve been very up front that I’d love for our guys to get taken care of maybe as much as any players in the country,” May said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference. “Right now, that’s probably not feasible, but I think everyone in our locker room will be making sacrifices, whether it’s financial, whether it’s minutes. Ultimately, great teams probably have eight or nine guys that deserve to start, that are capable of starting.”
During an interview with Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster of ‘Field of 68,’ May said “some have the Kansas City Royals NIL and some have the Yankees NIL, so it’s different for everyone.” He noted that Michigan is “probably in the middle — definitely not the top and definitely not the bottom.”
It might even be preferable to be in that position, though. May certainly believes it’s possible to win in that sweet spot.
“I think the championship teams aren’t going out and being the highest bidder,” the Michigan coach said. “So I think there’s always that fine line of that being important but that not being the most important thing.
“And every situation’s different. Listen, if there’s a young player that has a very limited value professionally and they have a chance to maximize their value now and it’s the most money they could ever make playing basketball, then it might be right for them to capitalize and go after the top dollar.
“If it’s someone that has professional aspirations and maybe the goal of making millions of dollars in the NBA, then they probably should choose the right fit, as far as development, style of play, conference affiliation, whatever the case. It’s just like everything else, every case is different.
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“But we’ve had to weigh that in every recruitment. That’s part of the information gathering phase, where if the absolute top dollar is what you’re looking for, then we’re probably not going to have what you’re looking for and we’re going to go in another direction. Philosophically, we want the first question to be about development and relationships — and then after that, hopefully the Name, Image and Likeness piece fits.”
Dusty May: NIL asking price is ‘over a million dollars for certain guys’
Goodman asked May what the highest ‘price’ he’s heard of for a player in the transfer portal, saying it was in the seven figures.
“Over a million dollars for certain guys,” May said. “And that’s not an isolated event; it’s been several conversations where they say this.”
May noted that numbers can change quickly and that he doesn’t believe all of what’s thrown out there.
“But also, you pick up the phone and you say, ‘What’s he looking for?’ ‘Well, he wants minutes and he wants this.’ And it comes around to NIL, and the number might be cut in half within 30 seconds,” May said. “And so you don’t really get mad at people for throwing out numbers…”
It might be frustrating to some coaches, but Michigan’s man embraces the current landscape of the sport, which could allow his team have early success in Ann Arbor.
