Don’t hope for Dusty May to be John Beilein. Don’t ask for Dusty May to be John Beilein. Don’t expect Dusty May to be John Beilein.
As much as the Michigan men’s basketball team wants to return to Beilein-era levels of success, expecting that to happen now in the same way it happened then is counterproductive. If this is going to work — if May makes it work — he’s going to have to do it his way. This is his vision and his program. It’s not athletic director Warde Manuel’s program, it’s not Beilein’s program, it’s not your favorite Michigan internet personality’s program. It’s Dusty May’s program.
Usually, that would go without saying. A new coach being brought in for a fresh start often signals the start of a new era, and in some ways May’s hiring has. The Maize Rage student section briefly named itself “May’s Rage” on Twitter, while the Champions Circle NIL collective started a “March with May” fundraising campaign. But there have also been plenty of signs pointing to the past. Namely, the hiring process itself.
After countless fans reminisced on the Beilein era as this past season turned sour and Beilein was floated over and over again as a potential successor for Juwan Howard despite already being his predecessor, the Wolverines indeed turned his direction after Howard was shown the door. While they didn’t appear to seriously consider hiring Beilein — the one way they actually could have marked the return of the Beilein era — the former Michigan coach was a key consultant for Manuel during the coaching search, quickly connecting with May after the hiring.
“We spent an hour and a half on Tuesday, just (Beilein) and I,” Manuel said Tuesday. “And then we spent two hours on Wednesday going through every candidate that we looked at, every coach that we looked at. And at the end of it, I told him who my target was and he said, ‘Well, that’s great. Let me also do some analysis for you and analytics and all that stuff.’ And he came back and told me what he saw.”
There’s nothing wrong with involving Beilein and leaning on his expertise to select the next coach — he’s a Michigan coaching legend and any help he offers should be more than welcome for a team coming off its worst season in program history. But the next coach has now been selected, and his name isn’t John Beilein.
So for all the times that Beilein’s name was mentioned in May’s introductory press conference for his role in the search, the mentorship he’s provided to May and the amount of respect May has for him, it’s time for Michigan to fully embrace that this is indeed a new era — not an extension of an old one.
The Wolverines didn’t hire Beilein, and the success Beilein had in Ann Arbor came at a time when college athletics as a whole was damn-near unrecognizable compared to what it is now. As similar as you may want May to be to Beilein, he’ll have to be damn-near unrecognizable compared to Beilein in certain respects in order to find success here.
That means leaving Beilein’s name, image and likeness out of May’s program blueprint, because May will have to win in the NIL sphere — something Beilein never had to worry about. It means leaving Beilein’s low-profile recruiting strategy that worked so well for Michigan out of May’s M.O., because May can leverage his program-building experience and Michigan’s brand to snag even bigger fish. That’s much needed for a roster with only four scholarship players on it right now, as slowly developing three-star projects by itself just won’t cut it.
And it means leaving Beilein’s stellar track record at Michigan in his era, not this one. Because May was hired to win in the 2020s, not the 2010s — with conference games on the Pacific coast and players appearing in commercials for your local Chevy dealers.
The game has changed, and Michigan is changing with it. Its extremely successful former coach helped the Wolverines pick a new one, but expecting May to be like Beilein is unnecessary. This is May’s show now, and to find success he’ll have to do it his way.
So hope for Dusty May to be Dusty May, who guided a previously-unheralded Florida Atlantic program to six straight winning seasons and two NCAA Tournaments. Ask for Dusty May to be the Dusty May that brought a program previously without an NCAA Tournament win to the Final Four.
Expect Dusty May to be Dusty May, and no one else.