Chicago — As the coaching carousel spins and Dusty May’s name pops up as a potential candidate for job openings by national outlets, Michigan basketball fans might feel a bit uneasy.
But the way Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel sees it, he’s in an enviable position.
“Any AD in America would want to have a coach that other people want,” Manuel said Sunday after May’s Wolverines beat Tennessee to secure the program’s first Final Four berth since 2018. “I’ve had the opposite problem. I love this problem more than I love the opposite problem.
“We’ll deal with it. We’ll work through it. I want Dusty to finish his career here at Michigan. I’ll work to make sure that he’s happy, we have what we need, and he has what he needs to succeed. That’s it, period.”
That’s when Manuel paused and looked around at the postgame scene inside the United Center, where maize-and-blue-clad fans stuck around to cheer on the Wolverines as they cut down the nets.
“What better job is there in America than this?” he asked.
It’d be hard to find anyone who has done a better coaching job in college basketball than May has the past two seasons. In Year 1, he inherited a decimated roster and took over a team that lost a program-record 24 games. May brought in several high-impact transfers who helped Michigan triple its win total, win the Big Ten tournament title and reach the Sweet 16.
This season, May followed a similar formula by dipping into the portal, bringing in four new starters and assembling a squad that plays cohesive, unselfish basketball. That’s led to a historic campaign that includes a program-record 35 wins and counting and an outright Big Ten regular-season title.
“It’s impressive, it really is. The way he’s put it together, the way him and his staff put together the game plan, the way everybody pulls together and executes it, it’s fun to watch,” Manuel said.
“What he does is he focuses on the right kids on the team that are the right people and they’re good teammates and they can play ball. But you’ve got to have it all for him to want you to come. He’s really done an excellent job.”
So much so that Manuel showed an increased commitment to May late last season. The two sides agreed to a contract extension that runs through the 2029-30 season, raised his average annual salary from $3.825 million to $5.1 million and carries a $7 million buyout until April 30.
Manuel noted that he’s “not worried about who’s sniffing around,” whether it be a storied program like North Carolina, where May’s name has been linked to, or other high-profile jobs.
It’s entirely plausible that another reworked deal is in the works, given May continues to exceed Manuel’s expectations and seeing how May’s pay stacks up against other top coaches. This season, May’s base salary is $4.6 million. That ranks third among the other three coaches in the Final Four — UConn’s Dan Hurley ($8.3 million annual average), Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd ($5.1 million) and Illinois’ Brad Underwood ($4.4 million). It also trails others like Tennessee’s Rick Barnes ($6 million) and Alabama’s Nate Oats ($5.5 million), who May beat in the NCAA Tournament, as well as Michigan State’s Tom Izzo ($7.2 million), who is the highest-paid coach in the Big Ten.
More than the banners and deep postseason runs, the one thing about May that has impressed Manuel the most is the way he connects with everyone, from his players and staff to fans and alumni.
“He’s just a great, genuine person,” Manuel said. “He connects with players individually and he gets to know them, and he gets to understand them. He helps them across the board not just in basketball. He helps them grow as people and grow as teammates. That’s what you see today; that way of connecting makes this happen.”
When Manuel hired May from Florida Atlantic in March 2024, the latter had his share of suitors and options. But it didn’t take long for May to be attracted to what Michigan had to offer.
“What I told him is that he would have what we have here today — the support from our fans, the support from me to make sure that he can do the things he needs to do to drive success,” Manuel said. “I think it all came together in terms of him seeing that our vision is for success in basketball, football, all our sports.”
When asked last week why he chose Michigan over other programs, May cited how his wife, Anna, was always a big fan of Ann Arbor, the city’s quality of life and everything the university has to offer.
The two were already familiar with the area since May started his coaching career nearby in Ypsilanti as an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan in 2005-06.
“I think Michigan is unique,” May said. “I’ll tell you what we say in recruiting: We have what we feel is the academic profile of Stanford with the passion of SEC football for our athletic department as a whole. Usually those two things aren’t merged, so we’re very proud that those two things are in great alignment at Michigan.”
After climbing the coaching ladder with stops as an assistant at Murray State, UAB, Louisiana Tech and Florida before landing his first head-coaching job at FAU, May, an Indiana native, admitted he and his wife missed the Midwest.
May added they’ve loved everywhere they’ve lived over the years, but it felt like a “full-circle moment” coming to Ann Arbor. Thinking back to when he and his family first arrived after he was hired at Michigan, May remembers telling his wife it “feels like we’re home.”
Manuel is determined to keep it that way and committed to making it happen.
“As an AD, you want to be in a position where other people want your head coaches, because they’re so successful,” Manuel said. “And as an AD, it makes me work harder to make sure he knows that this is the right place for him.”
jhawkins@detroitnews.com
@jamesbhawkins
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Warde Manuel wants Dusty May to finish career at UM: ‘I love this problem’
Reporting by James Hawkins, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
