The college sports calendar no longer has an offseason.
Just three months after leading Michigan to a national championship, Dusty May is finalizing a deal to become the next head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. The move is surprising given how quickly May elevated the Wolverines back to national prominence, and it leaves one of the sport’s premier jobs open at an unexpected time.
Will Michigan look to the SEC to find its next coach?
It is certainly possible, but it seems unlikely.
Michigan’s search is still in its infancy. As of Monday morning, reports indicated the school was working to identify an interim option while beginning the process of compiling a list of candidates. Once that list is finalized, several high-profile names are expected to emerge.
Among the coaches already being linked to the opening are Alabama’s Nate Oats and Florida’s Todd Golden. Both make sense on paper. They have built championship-caliber programs, recruit at a high level and have established themselves among the top coaches in college basketball.
The issue is not Michigan’s appeal as a job.
The issue is whether Michigan can realistically outbid SEC programs that have spent the past several years investing heavily in basketball.
Michigan’s basketball operating budget was approximately $14.4 million last season. That figure would have ranked ninth in the SEC, just ahead of Missouri’s $14.3 million. The Wolverines reportedly spent around $10 million on roster construction through NIL, but that number is no longer enough to separate a program from many of its SEC counterparts.
According to 247Sports, the average Power Conference basketball roster is expected to cost roughly $8.5 million next season. Only two SEC programs — South Carolina and Oklahoma — spent less than that figure a year ago.
Michigan is not entering this search with a significant financial advantage over the SEC or any other power conference. That reality becomes even more apparent when examining coaching contracts. Recent extensions throughout the conference have created substantial barriers for schools hoping to poach sitting SEC coaches. Five of the 12 largest coaching buyouts in college basketball belong to SEC coaches, and all five exceed $22 million.
Oats and Golden, two of the names most frequently connected to the opening, carry buyouts of approximately $26.9 million and $34 million, respectively.
Of the 15 public coaching contracts in the SEC, only one has a buyout below $10 million.
Michigan certainly has the resources to make a competitive hire. However, paying tens of millions of dollars in buyout costs before negotiating a contract worth more than $5 million annually is a different conversation entirely.
Ironically, May’s own departure illustrates the challenge. Before winning the national championship, he earned $3.725 million annually. A contract extension that reportedly would have required him to repay $5 million if he left before April 1, 2027, was agreed to in principle but never signed. As a result, Michigan is unlikely to recoup as much money as it otherwise might have from his departure.
The Wolverines will undoubtedly pursue some of the biggest names in college basketball. Whether they can realistically pry those coaches away from SEC programs is another matter.
More likely, Michigan’s next coach comes from outside the SEC altogether. In a sport where buyouts continue to climb and financial commitments grow larger every year, the Wolverines may find that the best candidate is not the biggest name on the market, but the most attainable one.
