For the first time in seven years, a men's college basketball head coach is leaving to take over an NBA team.
Michigan's Dusty May is departing the Wolverines for the Dallas Mavericks, ESPN reported Monday morning, after new team president Masai Ujiri and new general manager Mike Schmitz tabbed the reigning national champion to replace Jason Kidd.
May's departure is a seismic shock to the college basketball landscape -- coming the day before the NBA draft, almost two months after the transfer portal closed and 2½ months after North Carolina hired Michael Malone, seemingly ending the high-major conference coaching carousel.
It also comes just months after May guided Michigan to a dominant national championship run, beating UConn in the title game to cap a 37-3 season that featured 29 wins by double digits. May now becomes the first men's college basketball coach to leave in the offseason immediately following a national title since Larry Brown left Kansas for the San Antonio Spurs in 1988. (Side note: The Wolverines were also on the wrong end of this move the last time this happened, when John Beilein left for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2019.)
May brought Michigan basketball back to the top of the sport, but after his departure, what will athletic director Warde Manuel do next? Manuel has a massive decision on his hands -- and the timing is far from ideal.
Who is up next?
Manuel and Michigan are experienced when it comes to this sort of sudden, landscape-shifting move deep into the offseason. When Beilein left for the Cavaliers, it was mid-May. Nine days later, Michigan hired program legend Juwan Howard, who had spent the previous six seasons with the Miami Heat.
It also happened to the Wolverines in college football, when Jim Harbaugh departed for the Los Angeles Chargers after winning the national title in January 2024. That happened two weeks after the season ended. Days later, Manuel promoted offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore to the top spot.
If Manuel looks internally for May's replacement, assistant coach Mike Boynton would be a logical option. He's been the team's defensive coordinator and has experience as a high-major head coach, having spent seven seasons at the helm of Oklahoma State. Boynton led the Cowboys to one NCAA tournament appearance, while also landing elite recruit Cade Cunningham, who ended up as the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA draft.
If Michigan opts to conduct a more wide-ranging search, where might it look?
Near the top of the list could be Saint Louis' Josh Schertz, a close friend of May's. Schertz has become one of the most sought-after names on the coaching carousel the past few years, leading Indiana State to 32 wins in 2024 and the Billikens to a second-round NCAA tournament appearance this past season. He was linked to the Syracuse and NC State openings in March, but returned to Saint Louis with a new contract.
A few names bandied about when the North Carolina job opened in the spring were Vanderbilt's Mark Byington, Texas Tech's Grant McCasland and Iowa's Ben McCollum; Byington and McCollum both agreed to new contracts to remain at their current schools. Byington and McCasland both had sizable buyouts back in the spring, though, and it's unclear whether any of the three would entertain leaving at this point in the offseason.
Iowa State's T.J. Otzelberger is constantly linked to other jobs, but has maintained that he's quite content in Ames and has shown minimal interest in leaving. He has built one of the most consistent programs in the country at Iowa State and has a great relationship with athletic director Jamie Pollard.
Alabama's Nate Oats coached high school basketball in Michigan for more than a decade, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see the Wolverines pursue him. But he signed a new contract in April that runs through the 2031-32 season and made him one of the five highest-paid coaches in college basketball.
Billy Donovan, who won two national championships at Florida before spending the last 11 years with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Chicago Bulls, was considered a primary candidate at North Carolina but nothing transpired with the Tar Heels. Since then, he has stepped down from the Bulls and is now likely going to be near the top of every big college (and NBA) wish list moving forward.
What does it mean for the current roster?
Back in January, the NCAA made a change to the transfer portal policy surrounding coaching changes. When a head coaching change occurs, players have a 15-day period in which to enter the transfer portal -- a period that begins five days after the new head coach is hired or publicly announced.
If Michigan doesn't announce a hire within the next 30 days, the 15-day window will open automatically.
Roster outlook and priorities
Michigan checked in at No. 3 in our latest Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings earlier this month, despite losing four starters from its national championship team -- including three who will hear their names called in the first round of Tuesday's NBA draft.
Of the returnees, Elliot Cadeau is back at the point guard spot, while sixth man Trey McKenney is poised for a breakout season on the wing. May had reloaded his frontcourt with transfers Moustapha Thiam (Cincinnati), J.P. Estrella (Tennessee) and Jalen Reed (LSU).
Five-star guard Brandon McCoy (SC Next 100 No. 18) enters the fold on the perimeter, leading a 2026 recruiting class ranked No. 4 in the country that includes fellow SC Next 100 recruits Quinn Costello, Lincoln Cosby and Joseph Hartman. Michigan has also been involved with international wing Nikola Kusturica, -- who's expected to get significant NIL money -- competing against the likes of Kentucky and UCLA for his commitment.
It's worth noting Cosby and returning guard L.J. Cason are unlikely to play next season, as both recover from injuries.
At this point in the offseason, the incoming new coach needs to try and retain the entire roster. There simply aren't enough players left on the market -- whether via the portal, the international route or 2027 recruits to reclassify -- to replace multiple players of note.