Dusty May led Michigan to the 2026 NCAA national championship in April, went 64-13 in two seasons in Ann Arbor, built a roster almost entirely of transfers, won it all, and on Monday he agreed to become the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, leaving college basketball less than three months after cutting down the nets.
He replaces Jason Kidd, who was fired after a 26-56 season and four years of declining results in the aftermath of the Luka Doncic trade.
May, 49, is the first college head coach to jump directly to an NBA job since John Beilein, also from Michigan, left for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2019.
He is the last coach to leave immediately after winning a national title since Kansas's Larry Brown in 1988.
The decision was not easy according to people close to him, he had informally agreed to a contract extension at Michigan in April and had loaded the roster for what was projected to be a top-five preseason team.
The college environment itself pushed him out the door. "It IS the college environment that is pushing him to this decision," CBS Sports' Matt Norlander reported from a source close to May.
The transfer portal, the NIL chaos, the perpetual roster churn, May was done with it.
What he is walking into is Cooper Flagg. The Mavericks' 2025-26 Rookie of the Year averaged 21.0 points per game and is the foundation around which Dallas is building its next chapter.
Kyrie Irving is returning from a torn ACL. Klay Thompson is still on the roster. Dallas also holds the No. 9 pick in Tuesday's draft and has reportedly explored trading it for multiple picks from Oklahoma City.
Masai Ujiri, the new Dallas president and alternate governor, fired Kidd despite owing him more than $40 million on the remaining four years of his contract.
He then spent months pursuing May, who had drawn interest from multiple NBA teams, and won the recruitment. Mike Boynton Jr., a Michigan assistant with head coaching experience from Oklahoma State, will serve as interim coach while the Wolverines search for a permanent replacement.
Under NCAA rules, Michigan players have 15 days to enter the transfer portal once a new head coach is officially hired.