Michigan coach Dusty May is finalizing a deal to take the Dallas Mavericks head coaching job, sources told ESPN, an axis-shifting move that significantly alters the college and NBA landscape.
May, 49, led Michigan basketball to the national title in 2026. He’ll coach a franchise with Cooper Flagg as a linchpin piece. The Mavericks fired Jason Kidd after a 26-56 season last year.
May led Michigan to a 64-13 record over two seasons in Ann Arbor. In his previous job, he led Florida Atlantic to back-to-back NCAA tournaments, including the 2023 Final Four. He’d ruled out other college jobs this off-season, but the NBA has always been intriguing to May.
He’s the first college head coach to take an NBA job since former Michigan coach John Beilein took the Cleveland Cavaliers job in 2019. The last to leave immediately college after winning a national title was Kansas‘ Larry Brown in 1988 and Florida‘s Billy Donovan was the most recent NCAA-title winning coach to leave for the NBA in 2015.
The move puts May in charge of the Mavericks’ next generation, which is being crafted around Flagg, the NBA’s Rookie of the Year last season after leading Dallas by scoring 21.0 points per game last year. The move puts Michigan in a sudden state of flux after the Wolverines’ dominant run to the NCAA title. Michigan appeared well positioned to repeat, as ESPN’s Jeff Borzello ranked Michigan No. 3 in his early Top 25 rankings.
May’s departure means that Michigan’s players can explore their future options, as under NCAA rules a 15-day transfer window will open five days after a new head coach is hired or publicly announced.
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