Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Michigan faces a critical decision after Dusty May leaves for the Dallas Mavericks, jeopardizing their title defense.
- The transfer portal window looms, making the next coaching hire vital to keeping key players like Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney.
- One internal candidate offers immediate continuity, while others could reshape the program but risk roster turnover.
An absolute bomb dropped on the college basketball world this morning when Michigan head coach Dusty May agreed to leave the defending national champions to go pro. May is going to become the new head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, which will allow him to get in on the ground floor with Cooper Flagg and potentially take one of his draft-bound players (Yaxel Landeborg, Aday Mara or Morez Johnson Jr) to join him in the lottery.
The ripple effects of this move are seismic, but we can't exactly be shocked that May took this opportunity to go pro. May made clear back at the Final Four that he wouldn't leave Michigan for another college job, shutting down speculation he would go to North Carolina, but he didn't exactly close the door on professional opportunities.
Where does Michigan go from here?
The timing of this decision is very bad for Michigan, which has assembled a strong roster capable of defending its national championship as a top team entering the pre-season. The transfer portal will also open for 15 days for anyone on the Wolverines five days after they hire their next coach, so nailing the hire is critical if they hope to keep guys like Elliot Cadeau, Trey McKenney and incoming freshmen Brandon McCoy around.
Figuring out what to do here is tricky for Michigan since a mass portal exodus at this point in the season would doom them to a lost year. With that in mind, let's identify five top candidates to replace May at Michigan.
5 top candidates to succeed Dusty May at Michigan
5. Billy Donovan
If the Wolverines are looking for a coach with experience defending a national championship, few candidates fit better in that regard than Billy Donovan. There are no questions regarding Donovan's college bona fides after he won back-to-back championships with Florida in 2007 and 2008 and he is currently unemployed after parting ways with the Chicago Bulls at the end of the NBA season.
Donovan was in the mix for the North Carolina job but wanted to finish the NBA season first, leading the Tar Heels to pivot to Michael Malone because they wanted a head coach in place before the transfer portal opened. That experience shows that Donovan is open to returning to college and his experience with the pros could be enticing to recruits in the coming years.
The question here is whether Donovan has been away from the college game too long to adapt to the new NIL and transfer portal landscape. Few coaches would be better from an Xs and Os standpoint than Donovan, but asking him to learn this new world on the fly as the defending national champion is very risky.
4. T.J. Otzelberger
Michigan could be in the market for a rising college coach who has a chance to level up at a new program. One such fit could be T.J. Otzelberger, who is 124-53 in his first five years at the helm at Iowa State.
The Cyclones have been an NCAA Tournament regular under Otzelberger, reaching the dance every year and getting to the Sweet 16 in two of the past three years. There is a question about how high a ceiling Otzelberger has at Iowa State, which does not have the kind of resources to grow its program as Michigan does.
There is clearly a comfort level for Otzelberger at Iowa State as he has turned down overtures for bigger jobs in the past few years to stay put. While he does have midwest ties throughout his career, Otzelberger may hang around for a few more years to see if the Kansas job opens up as a more natural fit for his personality.
3. Ben McCollum
Few coaches win with more regularity than Ben McCollum, who is one of the most rapid risers in the profession. After piling up an absurd .813 winning percentage with four national championships at D-II Northwest Missouri State, McCollum made the move to Division I two years ago and took Drake to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 31 win season.
McCollum parlayed that success into the Iowa job, where he brought Bennett Stirz with him and got the Hawkeyes to the Elite Eight. There were rumors that North Carolina expressed interest in McCollum as well, but he opted to stay put to keep building a strong program at Iowa.
A jump to Michigan would give McCollum even more resources to build a winner, but the optics of abandoning his program in late June to go to a Big Ten rival could be a powerful deterrent. Michigan does have a boatload of cash to throw his way to tempt McCollum, so its safe to assume that there has at least been back channel discussions going on to gauge his interest.
2. Josh Schertz
If Michigan is trying to find the next Dusty May, Josh Schertz feels like a natural fit. Schertz is the biggest shooting star in the college coaching ranks, parlaying an NCAA Tournament snub in 2024 into a deep run to the NIT finals before moving up to Saint Louis.
The Billikens took a big leap forward in Schertz's second year, entering the national polls for a while and winning an NCAA Tournament game before playing Michigan very tough in the Round of 32. Several big time programs came calling for Schertz in the offseason but he turned them down, opting to stay put with Saint Louis to try and build the Billikens into an A-10 powerhouse.
There is a good chance Schertz would have jumped for this job if it came available in April, but doing so in June is a tougher ask since he would have to spend a lot of time convincing the current roster to stay without many great alternatives in the portal. Even if Schertz got some of his players to follow him to Ann Arbor it would be a tough year one, so this could be a situation that gets revisited in 10 months.
1. Mike Boynton
In a situation like this, the simplest path is often the one chosen to avoid the difficulties of a prolonged coaching search this deep into the offseason. May's lead assistant, Mike Boynton, has college head coaching experience at Oklahoma State and would offer some continuity with May's regime.
Boynton has coached outstanding talent before, having been the head coach at Oklahoma State when Cade Cunningham played there, so that is a strong selling point. It also helps that Boynton has established relationships with Cadeau, McKenney and the incoming freshmen he helped recruit, giving the Wolverines a stronger chance to retain most of their roster once the portal opens.
There is a good chance that Michigan elevates Boynton to the head coaching position now and simply re-evaluate their options a year from now. Boynton would theoretically have a strong roster behind him to prove his bona fides and most of the options on the list would still be available if Michigan feels the need to make a change in 10 months.
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