Dusty May is a 6th year head coach at Florida Atlantic University and a former Indiana Hoosier manager under Bob Knight 1996-2000.
He was an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan, UAB under Mike Davis, LA Tech under Kerry Rupp, and also Mike White where his teams were successful.
He took over the FAU program for the 2018-2019 season, from former coach Michael Curry. It's important to note that Curry, who took over from long time coaching veteran Mike Jarvis, did have a somewhat upward trajectory for the program when May took over. He did not had May the keys to the Porsche, but they were trending toward better things. May took them to the stratosphere by making the Final Four in his 5th season (2023), using a roster he built entirely on his own with transfers and modestly ranked recruits.
May's teams are heavily guard oriented and the use a single pivot man. It will be interesting to see how he does next season, as he will lose 3 senior guards. But guess who he has signed for next year? 3 guards, all with some size, 2 are from Florida, the other NC. Seems reasonable. All are 3-star and verballed AFTER the FF run.
In terms of offense and defense, May has a team that can put up points, defeating Arizona this year away from home in a high scoring affair. 3 of his teams rank as the highest scoring in FAU history, and very impressively, he also holds teams to fairly low scoring output, meaning he wins games by large margins.
Despite a very veteran heavy team, the success has not been entirely 1 class, and since a large portion of the scoring should return, if he can use some new players, they could be solid again next year (but perhaps not dominant).
In terms of wins and losses, May lost a few road games this year to fairly good teams, and also had a major slip up or 2 along the way, including a headscratching loss to Bryant at home early in the season. They also lost to Illinois, which is not a bad loss, and @South Florida, who won the regular season AAC (2-team bid this year?).
But in general, since he has put them high on the map, FAU has competed at a high level. Their players have generally stayed in the program with little turnover, and his veterans have played leadership roles as they went through the program, suggesting he plays to a system and not to personnel.
4th year guard Johnell Davis is from Gary, IN and is averaging 18ppg as a 4th year player and was AAC player of the year. May has proven he can build leaders.
So what to make of this young guy? Going back to Mike White, that guy was really good early on at LA Tech and Florida but then kind of fizzled, and is now at UGA which hasn't won alot in basketball. Is May a flash in the pan? Can he recruit the state of Indiana (seems he already has)? Can he deal with the pressure of expectations in Bloomington? Would we, as fans embrace him here and give him time to build the system he needs to succeed?
All these questions. You know, I look at what DeVries has done in a similar time frame at Drake, and you wonder how long McCaffrey is going to be at Iowa, not to mention the jobs both Hoiberg and now Otzelberger have done at Iowa State.
Did I mention that McCaffrey is 0.595 at Iowa, which is roughly what the combination of Crean, Miller, and Woodson have been at IU in the same timeframe.
Dusty May is 0.653, but much higher than that in the past 3 seasons, and likely to continue beyond that. Matt Painter is 0.687 at Purdue, and he really only had a single rebuilding year at Purdue, but if people remember after his first run of success with Hummel, Johnson, Moore, there were several years of struggle and mediocrity.
Point is, it's not always easy to pick a sure thing (unless we are talking guys like Bob Knight or Rick Pitino or Gregg Marshall).
But at some point, Indiana is going to have to look at the coaching landscape and make an informed decision. Not without risk. It cant be without risk if you go after a midmajor guy. No doubt May is getting offers daily. It's only a matter of time before someone from Indiana reaches out to guage that interest.
But as far as passion and fit and pedigree, isn't May pretty much the first name that comes to mind? We all know Woodson has no chance to do well in the next 2 seasons. It's only a matter of time and pulling the trigger at this point.
He was an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan, UAB under Mike Davis, LA Tech under Kerry Rupp, and also Mike White where his teams were successful.
He took over the FAU program for the 2018-2019 season, from former coach Michael Curry. It's important to note that Curry, who took over from long time coaching veteran Mike Jarvis, did have a somewhat upward trajectory for the program when May took over. He did not had May the keys to the Porsche, but they were trending toward better things. May took them to the stratosphere by making the Final Four in his 5th season (2023), using a roster he built entirely on his own with transfers and modestly ranked recruits.
May's teams are heavily guard oriented and the use a single pivot man. It will be interesting to see how he does next season, as he will lose 3 senior guards. But guess who he has signed for next year? 3 guards, all with some size, 2 are from Florida, the other NC. Seems reasonable. All are 3-star and verballed AFTER the FF run.
In terms of offense and defense, May has a team that can put up points, defeating Arizona this year away from home in a high scoring affair. 3 of his teams rank as the highest scoring in FAU history, and very impressively, he also holds teams to fairly low scoring output, meaning he wins games by large margins.
Despite a very veteran heavy team, the success has not been entirely 1 class, and since a large portion of the scoring should return, if he can use some new players, they could be solid again next year (but perhaps not dominant).
In terms of wins and losses, May lost a few road games this year to fairly good teams, and also had a major slip up or 2 along the way, including a headscratching loss to Bryant at home early in the season. They also lost to Illinois, which is not a bad loss, and @South Florida, who won the regular season AAC (2-team bid this year?).
But in general, since he has put them high on the map, FAU has competed at a high level. Their players have generally stayed in the program with little turnover, and his veterans have played leadership roles as they went through the program, suggesting he plays to a system and not to personnel.
4th year guard Johnell Davis is from Gary, IN and is averaging 18ppg as a 4th year player and was AAC player of the year. May has proven he can build leaders.
So what to make of this young guy? Going back to Mike White, that guy was really good early on at LA Tech and Florida but then kind of fizzled, and is now at UGA which hasn't won alot in basketball. Is May a flash in the pan? Can he recruit the state of Indiana (seems he already has)? Can he deal with the pressure of expectations in Bloomington? Would we, as fans embrace him here and give him time to build the system he needs to succeed?
All these questions. You know, I look at what DeVries has done in a similar time frame at Drake, and you wonder how long McCaffrey is going to be at Iowa, not to mention the jobs both Hoiberg and now Otzelberger have done at Iowa State.
Did I mention that McCaffrey is 0.595 at Iowa, which is roughly what the combination of Crean, Miller, and Woodson have been at IU in the same timeframe.
Dusty May is 0.653, but much higher than that in the past 3 seasons, and likely to continue beyond that. Matt Painter is 0.687 at Purdue, and he really only had a single rebuilding year at Purdue, but if people remember after his first run of success with Hummel, Johnson, Moore, there were several years of struggle and mediocrity.
Point is, it's not always easy to pick a sure thing (unless we are talking guys like Bob Knight or Rick Pitino or Gregg Marshall).
But at some point, Indiana is going to have to look at the coaching landscape and make an informed decision. Not without risk. It cant be without risk if you go after a midmajor guy. No doubt May is getting offers daily. It's only a matter of time before someone from Indiana reaches out to guage that interest.
But as far as passion and fit and pedigree, isn't May pretty much the first name that comes to mind? We all know Woodson has no chance to do well in the next 2 seasons. It's only a matter of time and pulling the trigger at this point.
