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Dusty May: Michigan has gone from 'Royals' to 'ballpark of the Dodgers and Yankees' in NIL

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•06/30/25•

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Dusty May
Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May during an NCAA Tournament loss to Auburn. (Photo by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

There were real questions as to how the Michigan Wolverines basketball head-coaching job was viewed by potential candidates when it opened following Juwan Howard‘s firing in March 2024. The two big hot topics surrounded academic restrictions and NIL funding, both of which were rumored to have helped lead to the downfall of the program under Howard.

Dusty May, who was hired to replace Howard, discussed those issues with athletic director Warde Manuel and former head man John Beilein and left his third floor hotel conference room meeting in Fort Lauderdale comfortable about the outlook, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of work to do.

Michigan was lacking in NIL resources, but May upped the bank account by working tirelessly right away, connecting with former players and donors both virtually and in-person across the country.

On a podcast appearance with Curry Hicks Sage (which can be purchased individually for $3), May detailed the NIL situation in Ann Arbor since he was hired.

“I don’t know, either. There are a lot of people speculating what everyone has, and some of it’s close, some of it’s way off. I’m quite certain we were — out of 18 teams in the Big Ten last year — in the bottom five,” May said.

A year later, Michigan has one of the top transfer portal classes in the nation, thanks in part to increased NIL funding and revenue sharing. The Wolverines landed the top-rated player in the portal — UAB forward Yaxel Lendeborg — along with three other top-65 transfers, Illinois forward Morez Johnson Jr. (No. 40), UCLA center Aday Mara and North Carolina point guard Elliot Cadeau (No. 63).

“And I’m quite certain we’re going to be in the top five this year, so that’s a very nice jump in one year, for a lot of reasons,” May continued.

“We’ve been creative with fundraising. Our collective works diligently; they’re very invested in helping us create opportunities for our guys. And then rev share is very healthy in the Big Ten. So, yeah, we’ve gone from being the Royals to a team that should be at least in the ballpark of the Dodgers and Yankees.

“Last year, I don’t know who was the lowest, but we had a very, very modest budget last year. I felt like our guys were grossly underpaid across the board. And the budget doesn’t always equate to winning, but it typically does.”

It didn’t for Michigan last season, which has provided even more hope for the Wolverine faithful. Now that the Maize and Blue are near the top in the Big Ten in money, they have even higher upside and are viewed as a national championship contender heading into the 2025-26 campaign.

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