Michigan Has Been Here Before. That Doesn’t Make Dusty May Leaving Any Easier.

The timing stinks. That’s the first thing everyone in Ann Arbor will tell you. Dusty May just won a national title a couple of months ago. He had said all the right things about sticking around. And now he’s gone, headed to the Dallas Mavericks, and the Wolverines are left scrambling in June of all times.

But here’s the thing about Michigan basketball. Or maybe Michigan athletics in general. They’ve done this before. They’ve had a coach walk out the door deep into the offseason and had to find a replacement fast. And while that doesn’t make the sting of losing May any less real, it does mean the program isn’t starting from scratch when it comes to crisis management.

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello laid it out pretty clearly. When John Beilein left for the Cleveland Cavaliers, it was mid-May. Nine days later, Michigan had hired Juwan Howard, a program legend who had been an assistant with the Miami Heat. That pivot kept the roster mostly intact and bought the program goodwill for years.

Then there’s the football side. Jim Harbaugh won a national title in January 2024 and bolted for the Los Angeles Chargers two weeks later. Within days, athletic director Warde Manuel promoted offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore to head coach. That hire didn’t exactly work out long term, but the speed of the move showed something about how the department operates. They don’t panic. They just move.

The immediate question now is who replaces May. There’s no obvious candidate waiting in the wings the way Howard was in 2019. But Michigan has resources. It has a brand. And it just won a championship. That should count for something when you’re making a list of calls.

One wrinkle worth watching: the Mavericks are expected to target some former Michigan players in the upcoming NBA Draft, specifically big man Aday Mara. That’s the kind of connection that makes May’s departure sting a little more for fans who had gotten used to seeing their guys stay home.

For Michigan, the search is on. And if history is any guide, they’ll have a name locked in before the rest of the college basketball world finishes processing what just happened. Whether that hire works out is a different question entirely.