Hiring Dusty May shows Michigan is serious about basketball program

The University of Michigan is serious about winning national titles and not just in football. The hiring of Dusty May shows the Wolverines want to bring another trophy home to Ann Arbor and again, not just one thanks to the football team.  

For over a year, May has been the darling coach placed in every possible rumor for every open coaching job imaginable. Leading a mid-major program on its first ever run to the Final Four will make anyone an attractive candidate, but it is Michigan who finally landed May. And while rumors suggested May coveted other schools like Indiana and Ohio State, he ends up coming to the Big Ten via Michigan instead. 

Some may argue that May only picked Michigan because the Hoosiers decided to stay the course with Mike Woodson and the Buckeyes promoted interim Jake Diebler, but none of that matters, now. What shelling out for a coach like May signals is that Michigan is serious and again, not just about football. 

The Michigan basketball program has a rich history of its own, even including a recent run with John Beilein. However, it doesn't have close to the prestige as Michigan football. The Wolverines' own the winning-est football program in history and while the fans were hungry for another modern national title, Jim Harbaugh delivered that in January before bolting to the NFL. 

Michigan basketball will never be what the football brand is, but hiring May shows a clear desire to get as close as possible. 

The Michigan basketball program does have a 1989 national championship and will forever be connected to the "Fab Five" era that revolutionized college basketball, but hiring May wasn't done to further a cultural movement – it was done to win games. May compiled a 126-69 record over six seasons at FAU. During the same time frame May was building a program in Florida, Michigan was slowly fading into obscurity. 

For as fondly as Juwan Howard's time as a player at Michigan is remembered, his tenure as coach is one fans want to forget. Michigan athletic director Warde Manual called Howard "one of the greatest Wolverines to ever be associated with our basketball program" in his statement about the program moving on. 

Howard posted an 87-72 mark in five years, only making two NCAA Tournaments. Two NCAA Tournament appearances in a five-year stretch is unacceptable for Michigan. The Wolverines now go from a former player to someone other than a "Michigan man" and that feels like the right transition if the goal is to win another national championship. 

Putting a school like FAU on the college basketball map and winning conference and national titles in the Big Ten are completely different things, but Michigan is banking on May, still relatively young in his coaching career at 47, being up for the task.  

And for people who will say most of the NIL money raised for Michigan is still going to go to football, there's no way a coach with options like May would agree to take this job if he didn't believe the financial resources would be there for him to compete at a high level.