Dallas Mavericks announce winning Michigan coach Dusty May to lead team for next NBA season

The Dallas Mavericks are in the final stages of a deal to hire Michigan’s champion college coach Dusty May, marking his transition from high school basketball to the NBA, according to sources familiar with the deal on Monday.

The identity of the source was preserved, as the contract formalization process has not yet been completed.

In April, May led the Wolverines to their first NCAA championship title since 1989, beating UConn 69-63 and finishing the season with 34 wins and just three losses. At the start of the NCAA tournament, the team made history by being the first to record at least 90 points in five straight games.

That feat came three years after May led Florida Atlantic to its only Final Four appearance. Prior to his hiring by Michigan, the Owls returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2024.

New technical command after changes in Mavericks management

Coach Dusty May, 49, takes over for Jason Kidd, who was removed from his role two weeks after Masai Ujiri’s arrival as president of basketball operations and alternate governor of the Dallas Mavericks.

May arrives in the NBA with the significant opportunity to develop Cooper Flagg, first overall pick in the 2025 draft and current Rookie of the Year. His signing reinforces a new phase for the team, focused on the evolution of talent, especially with the presence of veteran Kyrie Irving in the squad, who is recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament that kept him out of the entire 2025-26 season.

May’s first experience as a college assistant coach was at Murray State in the 2005-06 season. He had stints at teams like UAB, Louisiana Tech and Florida before taking his first head coaching position at Florida Atlantic.

During the memorable 2022-23 season, the Owls recorded 35 wins and just four losses, a campaign that ended with a narrow 72-71 loss to San Diego State in the national semifinals following a game-winning jump shot from Lamont Butler in the final seconds.

Praise and expectations from former players for the new coach

“I was already an admirer of Dusty when he was at FAU,” said Yaxel Lendeborg, May’s former athlete at Michigan and a likely lottery pick in the first round of Tuesday night’s NBA draft. “And now, having played under him, I’m an even bigger fan. I have such immense respect for Dusty May, it’s hard to describe.”

At last month’s draft combine, Lendeborg noted that, in his opinion, May ran the Michigan program similar to an NBA team in many ways.

“He used a lot of defensive tactics and exchanges, as well as an offensive system very similar to the professional one”, explained Lendeborg. “Our style of play was fast, physical, all of that. I gained vast knowledge from him about these actions and the little details of communication.”

May’s rapid rise through the coaching ranks

May’s career as a coach has been remarkable, especially in his last four seasons.

He took over at Florida Atlantic in 2018, racking up four straight seasons of just over 50%, before peaking in the 2022-23 season with an impressive 35-4 record that led the Owls to an unlikely run to the Final Four.

The following season, May went 25-9 at FAU before transferring to Michigan, where he revitalized the Wolverines. In his two seasons, he accumulated a total of 64 wins and 13 losses, succeeding Juwan Howard at a time when Michigan was coming off an 8-24 campaign, the university’s worst performance since the 1981-82 season (7-20).

In his debut season, Michigan went 27-10, won the Big Ten Conference Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.