Who Is Dusty May? Meet the Michigan Coach Defying Expectations at the NCAA Championship
In his second season, he's leading the Wolverines to basketball's biggest stage
Key Takeaways
- Dusty May is only in his second season at Michigan and already in the championship
- May and his wife Anna have been together since first grade and married since 2000
- The whole May family lives and breathes basketball—even on Thanksgiving and Christmas
The NCAA championship men’s basketball game between University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies and the University of Michigan Wolverines is almost here, and while all eyes may be on UConn, don’t count out Michigan, a team led by coach Dusty May. In his second season with the Wolverines, May has defied expectations and led his team to the college championship game. To learn more about the man behind the team, keep reading.
Get to know Dusty May
May was born in 1976 in Terre Haute, Indiana. He studied at Indiana University, before becoming Eastern Michigan’s assistant coach in 2005. Then, in 2006 he moved to Murray State in Murray, Kentucky, and coached there for a year, before moving to University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). In 2009, he left for an assistant coach position at Louisiana Tech. Then, in 2015, May went to the University of Florida and was an assistant coach for three years, before taking the position of head coach at Florida Atlantic University. He stayed there until 2024, when he became head coach at the University of Michigan.
The 2026 national championship game will be May’s first championship game appearance. He will face off against UConn, who is heavily favored to win by many sports analysts and fans.
“The most difficult thing about UConn is their ability to get from one thing to the next to the next to the next,” May told 24/7 Sports over the weekend. “There’s no stoppage. Once they get you in action, they keep you in action. They have amazing counters and layers to their offense. It’s going to take an extremely disciplined and focused approach every single possession because if you let your guard down, they take advantage of it.”
“We just try to create an environment that will prepare our players to play well in the games. Player development is helping your guys perform better on game nights while also always looking towards their future and their individual careers,” he continued. “Our practices are designed to challenge them, to make them think, to figure out solutions on their own, to lean on their teammates when things aren’t going well. We feel like if we don’t play well in the games, it’s because of our poor planning in the weight room, conditioning, individual workouts, team workouts, whatever the case. I think that’s one of the reasons we play with a level of looseness at the biggest moments, because we feel like we’ve either won or lost these games a long time ago.”
Dusty May’s personal life
May and his wife Anna have been married since 2000. They met in first grade. “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love Dusty and have feelings for Dusty,” Anna said in 2023, per People.
May and Anna have three sons—Jack, Eli and Charlie—and basketball is a top priority in the May home. “Most of our lives revolve around basketball,” Charlie told Hour Detroit in November 2025. “Holidays like Thanksgiving, we’re traveling to where games are. Christmas, we have maybe three days off.”
Eli agreed, telling the outlet of his dad, “He’s always on the phone or watching films. We’ll talk about the practice, who played well today, what he’s working on, recruits—whatever.”
What’s next for Dusty May
Following the championship game, May is expected to stay in Michigan, despite recent reports that he is planning to coach at University of North Carolina. May himself hasn’t commented on the rumors, but sources are telling a variety of outlets that the coach isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
You can watch Michigan take on UConn Monday, April 6 at 8:30 p.m. on TBS and Sling.
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