Dusty May - UNC Candidate Closer Look | Inside Carolina Basketball Analysis

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Dusty May has built a reputation as a program builder, first at Florida Atlantic, now

in Michigan.

The question isn't whether he can build.

It's whether he can sustain at the highest level.

And that's obviously a big factor in his candidacy for the North Carolina head coaching

job.

I'm Joey Powell.

This is a special episode.

UNC Coaching Candidate Profile, we're talking about Dusty May.

Let's get into it.

What's happening, y'all?

Joey Powell here for IC, Rob Harrington there, Sean Moran there.

This is the, I guess the next in what we're doing of some profiles of UNC's top candidates

for their open basketball head coaching vacancy.

If you're curious, check inside Carolina's message boards.

We have posted the, you know, our sourced best source information about who these top

candidates are and they're separated into tears.

You know, and I'll brag on us, specifically Greg and Cheryl.

Those guys are breaking this news and they're on the story like flies on poop.

And so I want to make sure that if you have not joined IC yet, you get 75% off your annual

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These dudes are way out in front of this story and are posting all the developments as

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But if you're a fan, you need to get that subscription and make it happen.

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friends and comrades.

So talking about Dusty May, current head coach at Michigan, obviously Michigan has been

all around the top five this past season.

You've seen what he's been able to do with who I think was the most fun player in college

basketball this year and the excellent board.

But give you a little bit of background on Dusty May.

He led Florida Atlantic to their final four run a few years ago.

He turned that program from obscurity into the national spotlight.

And he's now at Michigan and it's still early, but the early returns have been promising.

His team has looked very good in a very strong big 10 conference.

He's known more of a culture and development coach, I would say.

So just with that in mind, first reactions, fellas, Sean, Dusty May, other than the fact

that he plays in your most hated conference of basketball ever, let me know what your

first reaction is about about Dusty May.

Cool column and collected.

I think you never see him out of sorts.

He's always, I mean, whether he's standing or sitting just a perfect example of being

calm under pressure.

And in terms of his style, both offensively and defensively, I think is at the top of

his game, top of the coaching game, and by bringing that to the big 10, it was a different

style.

And I think by bringing a different style to that lead, he's been able to have the large

part due to the success that he's had.

But to me, offensively, he prescribes to the same rule of thought that a lot of people

do now, but close twos or push kick out for threes, but he does like to put pressure

on the rim.

He likes to play fast defensively, is also really a strong focus point as well of forcing

tough twos, using size, pushing the pace.

So to me, he's put Michigan at the top.

He's at the top of his game.

He's at the top of the college coaching ranks, but to me, it's just his demeanor and style

of play, as well as the execution that he brings that is exciting to talk about here.

Yeah, and in this past year, he had more seven footers on that roster than Nick Cannon

has, baby mamas, Rob, I'll ask you, your first reaction in thinking about what Dusty

May has done at Michigan and at FAU.

He's a fantastic clinician.

I think that's what stands out to me about Dusty May is over time at FAU, he turned them

to a hyper efficient offensive machine at a program where you wouldn't expect that

to happen.

And he brought that same thing.

I mean, Michigan was in disarray when he got there.

And year one, he made them among the best, most efficient offensive teams in the year

or two.

They were at the very tippy top all season.

It doesn't take him long to get his stuff done, and he doesn't so effectively, and again,

this hyper efficiency, very impressive coach to have that type of seasoning for a young

man still.

He's only been at two places and it just shows the type of ability that he has to come

in with a group of players he doesn't know.

I mean, in a way, I'm even more impressed by 2025 than 2026 because of what he did in

year one.

And like I said, Michigan was in a real rough place when he got there and just immediately

turned it around.

He brought calm, like Sean said, he brought this sense of self belief.

And I think he will be a fantastic coach wherever he is.

And I think Carolina would be very happy if that were Chapel Hill.

Yeah, I mean, when you think about the profiles of both schools, they're very similar.

Again, it's Michigan is a prestigious university, it's public.

There's a lot of similarities between what those two schools and athletic departments see

in themselves.

Sean, when I'm talking about the style that Dusty May has implemented, specifically

in Michigan, very guard driven offense, spacing, shot creation, it's somewhat adaptable,

I think.

I feel like his system is fairly adaptable and he's not so much of a system rigid guy as

much as I think he's a little more, a little more pliable with regard to what he's got

on his roster.

So I would ask you, is Dusty May's strength in his adaptability or do you feel that

is him lacking some sort of definite system?

I think it's his ability to fit players without deviating too much from a system.

I think he has his core principles, but he's not so rigid that whoever he's getting,

he can't fit them in.

I mean, I think we've seen that with the players that he added this year in the portal

from Codota, Lannaburg, tomorrow across the board.

So I think it's the perfect balance of having your key focuses, still having those come

out, but putting it around the players and their skill sets and their strengths and putting

them in situations to where they can best utilize what they do well.

And I think a lot of that comes from the focus that they do have, whether it's on recruiting

or in the portal, the effective, you know, Rob talked about effectiveness on the court.

And to me, there's the effectiveness in the portal and recruiting that is almost, at

least over the two years has been unmatched, whether it was Danny Wolfe coming the first

year.

When he went in the portal, you know, hey, is he a big, you know, is he a power five player

that there are those questions, but they got their hooks into him immediately and he committed

immediately.

Same thing this past year with Yaxl on down, they were probably, you know, ran probably

the best clinic from a portal perspective that you could ask for in terms of identifying,

adding, and being able to spend money early so they didn't have to chase money late.

So to me, it's the perfect, perfect mix of on court, presence, stability, but a flexible

nature, I would say.

Yeah, I can appreciate that.

Looking at kind of roster and culture stuff on the back of what Sean just teed up for

a while.

I feel like Dusty Mays had a lot of emphasis on player development, very strong locker room

culture there, depending on who you listen to and what you read.

But looking at what he's done, specifically what he did at FAU, he kind of took this

underdog to overachiever profile and that might be something that you could say with

what he did from the time he walked in behind John Howard at admission.

How do you feel like a culture can be built on being overlooked?

Or can that being overlooked culture translate to a place like North Carolina where the brand

ain't ever going to be overlooked?

I think that's okay.

That part doesn't concern me.

I think they, for example, the season, they established themselves as elites early that

they were targeted, they were a marked team, so they were a favorite all year long and

they played up to it.

Another thing I really love about Dusty Mays, he appears to have a vision for talent,

not just like Sean was saying in Portal, but keep in mind that when he went to Michigan,

he hired a fired coach from Oklahoma State, Mike Boynton, to be basically his defensive

coordinator.

Because historically, I think the FAU teams were better on offense than defense.

When he got to Michigan, I think he saw an opportunity to shore up the defense.

Now, this season of their elite, both areas, and that was a fired coach.

It was not someone you would have necessarily looked to to do that, but he had the vision

to add Mike Boynton, who unquestionably has been a huge addition to that coaching staff.

That type of thing is very, I don't want to invoke Dean Smith's name too much, but think

about the Carolina coaching tree, for example, under Dean Smith and everyone else since then,

including Roy Williams.

It hasn't been all that impressive.

I think Dusty May is one of those guys who might be building a real bench of assistant

coaches to span out of over time, and that's something, as Carolina is moving away from

the family, he had coaching higher, almost definitely, if they could start a new tree

of guys who might want to come back.

It's a secondary concern, but I think it speaks well for his ability to build a true

program, and by taking someone who's cast away, it's sort of similar to Nick Sabin.

More recently, he's sort of these reclamation projects.

I really like that.

I think it speaks well to his vision for his own program.

You put the pieces together, not only from a talent point of view, a player talent point

of view, but also a coaching talent and fit point of view.

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That also screams of a guy that even though he's young is confident in his ability to analyze

and assess those around him whether it be talent or whether it be coaching acumen.

Like you said, he's picking Boynton who is essentially a cast off and finding a place

for him and making a thing out of it.

Yeah, I think it's absolutely fascinating.

And when you mentioned Dean Smith, I thought you were going to go to the Innovator route,

like Four Corners, Secondary Break, that kind of stuff because he's been somewhat of an

Innovator like you said with how he built his staff.

Thinking about the building mentality, we opened with it and Rob, you just hit on it really,

really strongly.

What he may as a builder, I don't know that North Carolina is a place to build as much

as it's a place to maintain.

But I do think there's something to be said about the reason we're at this place of looking

for a new coach for North Carolina is because there wasn't any maintenance done, that maybe

that maintenance had slipped below what folks expect from this program.

So Rob, do you feel like a guy that's been a builder?

Is that fit in a blue blood, a blue blood situation like North Carolina?

I think absolutely these days because there is cultural and program maintenance.

But from a team point of view, you actually are building from scratch almost every single

year because there's so much turnover.

And part of what Mishonari pointed out, taking wolf, you have someone who had questions

about whether he was good enough to play in that conference, much less for a blue ship

team in that conference.

I think that you're being able to have the agility to very quickly identify your best targets,

get it done.

And that was as you're going into his first season at Mishkin, not other than just the

one tournament run, he wasn't identified yet as an elite coach prospect.

And to me, build a team from scratch year to year and simultaneously have this longer

term.

As you say, Joey, maintenance, program maintenance, cultural maintenance, I think he'd be fantastic

on both counts.

Rob, you're getting really good at teeing up my next questions almost as if you're living

inside of my brain.

Sean, I would ask you for a guy that's this early in his career arc, right?

From a head coaching standpoint, right?

He's only been at Mishkin for two years, don't want to discount what he did at FAU, but

being at a power five program for just two seasons, do you feel like his trajectory, his

dusty mage trajectory, match North Carolina's timeline and what they need in their next

coach?

I think you could make the argument that maybe it's a little too soon, but at the same time,

what he did with Mishkin so quickly, almost negates any of those concerns.

And really looking over the last four years, you could say he's been leading teams at

high levels from the final four to, while they lost in the first round, the second year

at FAU, he was able to bring everybody back.

And I think it's hard to get the perfect, Roy Williams isn't stepping through that door

in terms of what he accomplished and what can be brought in.

So I do think getting somebody as they are continuing on that upward trajectory, almost

kind of on that early adoption curve is paramount to long-term success for UNC.

And I think in terms of, once again, the styles of play both offensively and defensively

his ability to recruit both from high school as well as the portal and what he turned

Michigan into so quickly in terms of the powerhouse on both sides, I think plays perfectly

into what UNC needs in a coach where he has won a championship, at least as of yet,

but he's put things together, put a strong resume together, has a style of play, has

his core principles, and UNC can ride that train a long time into the future.

All right, well, as we do on these here, this here, chapter of shows, once you guys

to each give me kind of a final thought or a parting shot or whatever you want to call

it, before we get out of here, Sean, I'll stick with you, I guess your final assessment

overall take away when you consider Dusty May as a candidate for North Carolina.

One, I mean, love it, I thought it would be hard, just him having only been at Michigan

for two years, but going back to Florida Atlantic from a recruiting perspective, he brought

in Nick Boyd, who was fantastic at Wisconsin, obviously as a fifth, I think, fourth or fifth

year player, Elijah Martin and John L. Davis, they all came in and they grew, so that shows

me as a ability to identify talent even at that level in addition to what he's done

at Michigan, and then just being able to bring those guys back as well, with probably

no NIL resources at the time, and it wasn't what it is today, but to bring those guys back

shows what he does for people from a person to person standpoint, from a caring perspective

and just kind of the, we talked about it on coast to coast, that yeah, you're going out

of the family, but if you can have a lot of the principles that the Carolina family is

about, or what Dean Smith created and it spread, I think this is the perfect, perfect

higher to keep those principles and that tradition the same even though it's going out of the

tree. A lot of what you see on the court and off the court is what Carolina people have

grown to love.

That's a pretty strong endorsement, Sean, and by the way, as Sean mentioned, the coast

to coast, Sunday evenings on inside Carolina, you can hear Sean, you can hear Sheryl

went milling, and you can hear some other dude running the show.

Rob, last thought, where we get out of here, how do you feel about Dusty May as a potential

fit for North Carolina?

When the initial list of candidates was released, and we posted that, Greg and Sheryl, I scoured

that list, and I said Dusty May is my guy, number one, even ahead of Brad Stevens, which

I realize is not how most of people would have come down, because Stevens was on the initial

list, not for long, but I thought because he's doing it now, and I love what he has shown

in terms of putting pieces together, which I already mentioned.

I love the thinking uniquely to put a coaching staff together and not just bring guys who

are sort of around.

You can't do that anymore because assistant recruiting is not as important, and he took

advantage of that situation to bring in someone who would compliment his offensive clinical

ability who is more clinically defensively driven.

On top of that, the talent identification, working very emphatically and quickly in

the portal, as we talked about with Wolf, I think he's in the whole package, the right

age, ambitious, I think he's the right temperament for Carolina, can they get him?

I've never questioned, from the moment I saw him on that list, I've had no doubts that

he would be great there, just a question of whether they can make it happen.

Well, I appreciate the insight from both of you guys.

I think just kind of putting a nice summary paragraph, you know, sealing, I think, for

Dustin made, North Carolina will be sustainable success and cultural stability, and then

maybe the questions or any risks would be, has he proven that he could be successful at

a sustained level at a big school, and he hasn't quite proven that he's elite yet, but

man, all the signs are there just as Sean and Rob have laid out.

And again, if you'd like to hear more of this stuff or get more information about this

search inside carolina.com, grateful for Johnny T-shirt sponsoring the show.

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Until next time, I'm Joey Powell for Inside Carolina for Sean Moran and Rob Harrington.

This has been a coaching candidate profile of Dusty May as North Carolina tries to find

out who's going to be the next leader of the men's basketball program.

We'll talk to you very, very soon.

Y'all make it a great week.

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