The Dallas Mavericks have hired Michigan's championship-winning coach Dusty May, the team announced. May and the Wolverines won the NCAA championship with a 69-63 victory over UConn in April, capping a 34-3 season in which Michigan became the first team ever to score at least 90 points in five consecutive NCAA Tournament games.
The 49-year-old May replaces Jason Kidd, who was let go two weeks after Masai Ujiri was hired as president of basketball operations and alternate governor of the Mavericks.
May becomes only the second coach in recent memory to jump straight from college to the NBA. The last was John Beilein, who took the Cleveland Cavaliers job in 2019 after also leaving Michigan. Three years before that, May had led Florida Atlantic to its only Final Four appearance. The Owls returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2024 before May left for Michigan.
He now takes over a Mavericks roster with a chance to mold 2025 No. 1 overall draft pick and reigning Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg. Veteran star Kyrie Irving is also on the roster for now, after missing the entire 2025-26 season following an ACL injury in March of last year.
From Murray State assistant to Final Four coach
May began his college coaching career as an assistant at Murray State in 2005-06, then served on staffs at UAB, Louisiana Tech and Florida before landing his first head coaching job at Florida Atlantic. The Owls went 35-4 during their 2022-23 season, which ended with a 72-71 loss to San Diego State in the national semifinals after Lamont Butler hit a buzzer-beating shot for the Aztecs.
"I was a fan of Dusty's when he was at FAU," said Yaxel Lendeborg, who played for May at Michigan and is widely expected to be a lottery pick in the first round of Tuesday's NBA draft. "And now, after playing for him, I'm a bigger fan. I have so much respect for Dusty May, I can't even tell you."
Lendeborg said at last month's draft combine that he felt May ran Michigan's program like an NBA program in many ways. "He taught us a lot of things that are being used in the NBA now," Lendeborg said. "A lot of schemes, a lot of switching and stuff. And his offense was very much a pro-style offense. We played fast-paced, physical, all of that. I've gained so much knowledge from him as far as those actions and just those little communication keys."
A meteoric four-year run
May took over at Florida Atlantic in 2018 and had four consecutive seasons finishing just over500 before the breakthrough 35-4 campaign and Final Four run in 2022-23. He went 25-9 at FAU the following season, then moved to Michigan, which went 27-10 two seasons ago before the run to this year's championship.
May's record over his last four college seasons was 124-26, an827 winning percentage that ranked third best in major college men's basketball over that span, behind Houston's Kelvin Sampson (.861) and Duke's Jon Scheyer (.832).
