ANN ARBOR — Amiable assistants and hard-working players. That’s all Dusty May is looking for in a job, and he’s found it at Michigan.
Might he be able to find it at the highest level of basketball?
While Michigan’s second-year men’s basketball coach hasn’t been linked to any NBA jobs, it didn’t stop a reporter from asking him about his aspirations this week. The reporter mentioned someone May has brought up previously: Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault.
Daigneault, 40, is in his sixth season leading the Thunder. They won the NBA title last season and are 24-2 so far this year.
May joined the University of Florida staff as an assistant a year after Daigneault left that program to coach Oklahoma City’s G League team. “He wasn’t one of the main assistants,” May said of Daigneault’s time at Florida. “So he had a different perspective and I called him _a lot_. … He was back in town a lot and came to workouts and through the office. Early in my career, I picked his brain a lot before he was such an accomplished coach. Now I feel bad reaching out just because I know the time constraints.”
May took his teams to watch Daigneault coach in the G League and said he’s picked up a lot of useful information from him. Daigneault joined the Thunder’s NBA coaching staff in 2019 for one season before getting the head job.
May was asked this week about the idea of coaching in the NBA. It’s not something he’s thought about.
“I’ve said it repeatedly: This is all too big of a dream,” May said. “I don’t think about where I could be coaching in the future. I want to win on Sunday and get better this week.
“I’m not a real goal-driven guy. I haven’t been since I was in my early 20s when I wanted to be a head coach at this stage and do all this stuff.”
May, who will turn 49 this month, has only been a college coach, transitioning from a student manager to his first paid job in 2000. He became Florida Atlantic’s head coach in 2018 and concluded a six-year run with two NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Final Four berth in 2023.
May has said previously that his career took off when he _stopped_ trying to climb the coaching ladder and instead [focused on enjoying the work and serving his players](https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/2025/02/dusty-mays-deep-indiana-roots-wont-distract-from-job-to-do-with-michigan.html).
“I had wife and kids and realized, ‘Man, I want to enjoy going to work with a great team and a great staff every day,’” he said this week. “And that’s really the thing that makes me happy. I’m very, very simple: A great staff, a team that wants to get better and a curious group that’s driven to be their best.”
He added: “I have no personal ambition other than being the best coach I can be.”
That’s good news for Michigan fans and not surprising. He led the Wolverines to a Big Ten Tournament title and Sweet 16 appearance last season and has them 10-0 this year, ranked first in the NCAA’s NET and second in the AP poll.
That kind of success, if sustained, could lead to interest from the NBA. May isn’t going to let speculation about the future rob him of his focus on the present.