Why Dusty May leaving Michigan and college basketball behind in June isn't remotely surprising - CBS Sports

It was mid-afternoon on April 13 in St. Louis, one week removed from Michigan winning the national title. Dusty May was head down, texting one person after another and diligently trying to land his second big commitment in the portal. We were sitting in Josh Schertz's office at Saint Louis University. The reason for the unusual setting: May had flown into town that morning to receive the Henry Iba National Coach of the Year award on behalf of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

I was peppering him questions about why winning a national title didn't feel as sweet as he'd hoped or believed it would. May should have been on cloud nine after reaching the mountaintop of college basketball. Instead, he was like every other coach in the country: sweating out each hour of the recruiting process and hopping on multiple Zooms calls every day just to try and not lose pace.

And here today, in the immediate aftermath of the biggest headline of college basketball's offseason, that 30-minute sit-down reverberates heavily. The news of May going to the Dallas Mavericks arrived in thunderclap fashion Monday morning, but I'm hardly shocked. He was always going to do this when given the opportunity, it's just that the opportunity came sooner than just about everyone anticipated.

I remember how May stopped texting and looked up from this phone when I asked him: "Do you think you'll be coaching Michigan in three or four years?"

"No," he admitted. "I can't see myself doing this for too much longer."

By that he meant: running a college basketball program when roster prices were increasing by 300% every year. The constant roster churn, the lack of the NCAA's institutional control over college basketball, the way the system stole some of the fervor and celebration windows from Michigan's coaching staff after pulling off one of the best seasons of the past two decades.

May told me he aspired to coach in the NBA someday. He craved to know if he could do it and felt compelled to eventually find out — especially if the state of college basketball was going to be perpetually chaotic. I left him wondering how long it would take for that day to arrive.

Forget three years. He didn't even last another three months.

There's another thing that happened from that day that explains so much of why one of the college game's best coaches is leaving the sport. It took place as I took this picture.

This is May talking to a highly regarded player in the transfer portal. The player called May, so he popped out of his chair and had to put our interview on pause for a few moments to see what was happening. During his conversation, the player verbally committed to play for Michigan next season. A huge development. When the call was over, I congratulated him, then he chuckled, saying something to the effect of, "Just because he committed doesn't mean he's coming. We still have to deal with the agent."

The story gets even stranger. This player verbally reinforced his commitment to May two more times in the ensuing weeks.

The agent was a handful, though.

And so Michigan never got him.

He'll be playing elsewhere next season.

That's the portal recruiting experience in a nutshell.

Scenarios like this are as much of the reason why May wants out as anything. Yes, there is the temptation of the NBA and all that comes with that too, of course. But it was much more difficult to recruit to a national championship-winning program than I think anyone at Michigan thought it would be — even as well-resourced as they are — and so that's why May is taking a chance on himself and going now. He's doing this knowing full well he'd have a very good shot at other opportunities, potentially even better NBA jobs, in 2027 after what would have likely been a successful follow-up season to a national championship run.

State of college basketball driving coaches out

In talking to multiple sources close to May on Monday, I was explicitly told that the state of college basketball played a serious factor in May leaving for Dallas.

"There's just too much uncertainty in college athletics," one source said. "Parents are relentless, calling and checking in, doing what they do. Every day it's dealing with shit. And there are hundreds of coaches doing what they think is best for themselves, not what's best for the game."