Michigan basketball found itself back in familiar territory this summer, and this time the departure came from a coach who had just delivered a title.
Dusty May, who had Michigan covered in maize and blue confetti in April, stunned the basketball world when he agreed to become head coach of the Dallas Mavericks on June 23. The move came after both May and Warde Manuel had brushed off NBA chatter, leaving the Wolverines looking set up for another championship push in 2026.
May recently explained why he walked away, and his answer went well beyond the NBA opening in Dallas. He pointed straight at the state of college sports.
At the Big Ten conference meeting, May said he arrived hoping to work toward solutions. Instead, he left with a bleak takeaway.
“I go there and I was just like, 'Oh my God, nothing's getting fixed ever,” May said.
That frustration fits a broader reality around college athletics. NIL and the transfer portal have changed the job, and for coaches, the old balance is gone.
They are no longer just coaching and recruiting. They are trying to hold a roster together, chase the next one, manage fundraising, satisfy boosters, and keep the fan base engaged at the same time.
For May, that shift became a major part of the appeal of the NBA. He told The Athletic, “I just spent so much more of my time doing everything but coaching,”
He also made clear that the fix, if one is coming, won’t be quick. In his view, the sport needs real structural changes.
“Collective bargaining in some way, shape or form needs to happen,” May said to The Athletic. “And number two, figure out a way to make contracts binding.
“Like, you can’t have a kid sign at this Big Ten school on a Friday and then go on an official visit the next day and sign at another Big Ten school for twice the money on Tuesday. It just can’t be like that.
If they are gonna sign rev-share contracts and they’re gonna sign NIL contracts, let’s at least make those binding.”
May has long had interest in coaching in the NBA, but the right situation had to come along. It did when the Mavericks moved on from Jason Kidd. Dallas then landed Cooper Flagg with the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, and that young core made the job even more attractive.
Flagg was a major draw for May, and so was the chance to build around young talent while adding a familiar face in former Michigan forward Morez Johnson.
Michigan, according to The Athletic, knew May was leaning toward the Dallas job and asked what it could do to keep him. May’s answer was blunt.
“I don’t think there is anything,” May told Michigan, according to The Athletic.
The result is another jarring coaching exit for Michigan, six years after John Beilein left for the Cleveland Cavaliers and resigned less than a full season later. May leaves before getting the chance to defend a national title, joining the list of coaches who have stepped away as the college game keeps changing around them.
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