Michigan's Dusty May talks recruiting, coaching his son, John Beilein and Sherrone Moore

CHICAGO — Michigan Wolverines basketball has 11 new players on its 2024-25 roster. Head coach Dusty May and his staff are learning the players and vice versa, with some exceptions.

There’s nobody on the roster that knows the head coach more than a 6-foot-5, 190-pound junior guard: Charlie May.

May is Dusty’s middle son who transferred in this offseason following two seasons at Central Florida. He saw six games off the bench for the Golden Knights, totaling 3 rebounds and 1 steal last year.

May wasn’t far away the last two seasons, when he was the head coach at Florida Atlantic, but he didn’t get the chance to see his son as much during the season, since both were deeply entrenched with their teams. That’s changed now.

“It’s great to see him every day,” May said. “I think he’s done a nice job of earning the trust of his teammates.

“When he’s at the basketball facility, he’s not my son; he’s their teammate, and I treat him accordingly during practice.”

May said that last part with a laugh, alluding that he does in fact coach his son hard like the rest of Michigan’s players.

“He’s called me dad once in the facility, on accident, and it was in the office. I gave him ‘The Rock’ raised eyebrow,” May said with a laugh.

John Beilein a big-time resource for Dusty May

John Beilein, the winningest head coach in Michigan history, was a key part of the hiring process for May, and he’s been a resource ever since the latter got the job. The two have had consistent contact, and Beilein made an appearance at a U-M basketball staff retreat in Charlevoix, Mich., this summer, sharing wisdom with the group.

“I’ve talked to Coach Beilein at least once a week since I got the job, or every other week,” May said. “Just his desire to help us coaches be better coaches, knowing what to look for in advance, pointing us in the right direction to people that can help our players on campus has been amazing.

“He’s a hall-of-fame basketball coach that is as good of a teacher as there is in life today. It would be, I guess, irresponsible for me to not bring him into a place that he loves as much as he does.”

Dusty May on ‘awesome’ official visits’

Michigan is on on multiple big-time recruits, including top-25 prospect Trey McKenney, a four-star guard out of Orchard Lake (Mich.) St. Mary’s.

McKenney just took his official visit Sept. 21, along with four-star center Xavion Staton and others.

“The official visits, obviously, are awesome,” May said. “Home football games in front of 110,000, 111,000 fans, the electricity on our campus and the passion that are alumni, our students, our local community has for the University of Michigan is unparalleled. So it’s been a blast.”

When May was hired in March, he was tasked with simultaneously bringing in both transfers and coaches to the program, all of whom would be a big part of the short-term outlook. Now, he and his staff can focus more on the long-term vision with player acquisition.

“Obviously, when we came in we had a late start,” May said. “We still have some things to sort through as you’re building a roster, but we like where we are. We’re involved with guys that we really believe in, and now it’s finding the right pieces to complement what we already have.”

Michigan football, basketball have strong relationship

Michigan’s football games at The Big House — the largest stadium in college football — help the basketball program, the hoops benefits head coach Sherrone Moore and his team, too. The pair of first-year head coaches have forged a strong bond early.

“Coach Moore and his staff are guys that you want to root for, because they’re great guys, they’re great coaches and they pour into their players,” May said of the Michigan football coach. “Those are the guys that I like to be around. They’ve been great. We’ve taken every recruit through the facility, they come over and you’ll see their staff shooting hoops or bringing recruits through. It’s a true partnership at Michigan where we’re all helping each other. Their success helps us, our success will help them.

“But it’s been fun to watch, because they had such high expectations, they lose all those guys, they’re rebuilding — yet the expectations never change. And that’s why you come to Michigan, because those expectations don’t change.”

May was asked if replacing so many key contributors yet still winning at a high level early in the season has any parallels to his team, which has so many new players.

“We don’t have the national championship pedigree quite yet,” May said with a smile. “Hopefully in one year we can say ‘yes.'”