BLOOMINGTON — Brad Stevens’ watch has ended.
There’s now another IU-tied former national finalist coaching in the NBA for Indiana fans to wonder at. In fact, Dusty May’s ties are stronger, and he’s more than just a finalist.
After two seasons at Michigan, the second of which culminated in April with the Wolverines’ first national championship since 1989, May made the jump to the NBA. His decision to accept the Dallas Mavericks’ head job was widely reported Monday morning.
History — in particular recent history — tells us May will now become (if he hasn’t already) the fixation of IU fans any time the Hoosiers hit a rocky patch, a program savior whenever there is a perceived need for one.
May’s own career decisions across the last several years suggest his eyes were cast in another direction entirely.
Was IU basketball close to hiring Dusty May?
The question of whether Indiana acted too slowly in moving on from Mike Woodson, when May’s Florida Atlantic project was at its peak in 2023 and 2024, has been an open one around here for some time. Maybe it should close now.
Privately, Indiana got mixed signals about May’s interest in returning to his alma mater.
A former student manager and assistant raised in Greene County, the combination of May’s ties to the program and his present success made him an obvious candidate. Depending upon the source, though, information remained mixed as to whether May held genuine ambition for the head job at his alma mater.
It is purely one man’s opinion: My position whenever asked is that if May wanted the Indiana job, then he could have engineered his career decisions such that he’d have it right now.
These things are always as much about timing as they are ambition. Maybe somewhere that went wrong. But May’s decision to leave Michigan now, given all he accomplished there in such a short space of time, signals something altogether different.
Why Dusty May left Michigan for the NBA
Make no mistake about what May leaves behind in Ann Arbor.
He enjoyed the rock-solid support of his athletic director, whose own success was tied in part to everything that came after his ability to tempt May north from Florida Atlantic.
At Michigan, May demonstrated not just his remarkable ability to navigate the portal, but also the significant resources made available to him there. Michigan enjoyed one of the largest roster resource pools and one of the best infrastructural setups in college basketball.
Couple that not just to the fact that May was only months removed from winning a national title, but also the dominant fashion in which the Wolverines won it, and there was very nearly no limit to the possibilities ahead.
On Monday, he traded all that for a rebuilding NBA franchise. One anchored by the prospect of working with a supremely talented young player in Cooper Flagg, but Dallas remains a rebuild nonetheless.
Which suggests without needing so many words that this was always at least a potential destination on May’s horizon. Not Dallas, specifically, but certainly the NBA.
Rewind to April, when May emphatically quelled speculation linking him to what then remained an open job at North Carolina by agreeing to his third contract (or revision thereof) in just two years at Michigan.
In the days leading up to his fresh terms, May told reporters he’d resolved the year before never to comment publicly about a job other than the one he currently occupied. His actions had always spoken louder than words anyway.
When May broke through at Florida Atlantic, he remained patient and selective. When, in 2024, he resolved to leave, he reportedly chose Michigan over the more basketball-mad Louisville. And when his name was thrown around for the UNC job in April, word around the room at the Final Four in Indianapolis was May did not necessarily see greener pastures elsewhere in college.
His actions made that clear, just as they now make clear what kind of opportunity could tempt May away from Michigan.
May has always cut a considerable figure as a coach, but also a prudent one. He moved carefully then, and he appears to be moving carefully now.
History being written will be closely watched
What does that tell us about his historical interest (or lack thereof) in his alma mater?
Maybe nothing. We’re far too often guilty of assigning reason and meaning where really there’s just ambition and opportunity. If you were a successful basketball coach and someone offered you a clean-slate NBA job with Cooper Flagg as its centerpiece, you’d be foolish not to listen.
Our shared experience, yours and mine, says we’re going to spend the next few years watching May closely, and wondering whether his success or failure might ever matter more pointedly around here.
If Darian DeVries wins at Indiana with the same consistency he showed at Drake, it probably won’t matter. If IU basketball continues its long decade of failing to launch, well, we both know the answer then.
In the interim, it’s worth considering whether that’s the right way to frame the conversation around Dusty May and his alma mater. Maybe, given May’s navigation of his career up ‘til now, it’s possible we’re asking the question the wrong way around.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Dusty May to the NBA shows we may have asked the wrong question about the Indiana basketball job
Reporting by Zach Osterman, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Zach Osterman, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
