Dusty May: Everything you need to know about the Florida Atlantic basketball coach

The 46-year-old American college basketball coach, Dusty May, was a student manager for the Indiana University men’s basketball team. After graduating, he began his professional career as an administrative assistant/video coordinator at USC from 2000-02.

He returned to Indiana in an organizational role for three seasons before taking his first job as an assistant coach with Eastern Michigan (2005-06). He has also assisted at Murray State (2006-07) and UAB (2007-09).

NCAA:

May worked six seasons (2009-15) as an assistant coach and associate head coach at Louisiana Tech. In his final season, the Bulldogs went 27-9, including 15-3 in C-USA to win the regular season championship by two games, and went 17-0 on its home court. LA Tech won 49 of 50 home games from February 2012 to the end of the 2014-15 season.

During his tenure as an assistant at Louisiana Tech, Mike White took over the program entering the 2011-12 season. The Bulldogs won three straight conference championships – the Western Athletic Conference title in 2013 and C-USA crowns in 2014 and 2015.

After sending three years as an assistant coach at Florida, where he supported the Gators in gathering a 69-37 record, including back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, in March 2018, May took the challenge of creating the Florida Atlantic University’s men’s basketball program into a team that will invariably contest on the national stage.

FAU years

In his first season at the FAU bench, May guided the Owls to a winning record for the first time since 2011 and an appearance in the College Insider Tournament (CIT), the third postseason appearance in school history. May’s work was recognized nationally when he was a finalist for the Joe B. Hall Award, given to the best first-year coach in Division I.

In his second year, May conducted the Owls to their second winning season in a row, the first time since the 1996-97 season. FAU won 14 home games, averaging 71.1 points per game, its highest average in almost a decade. May tope off the campaign to lead the Owls to a 66-56 win over Old Dominion at the C-USA, the first in-bracket, neutral site conference tournament victory for FAU since 2002.

The 2020-21 season was another winning campaign, as May became the first coach since the program joined Division I to reach three consecutive winning seasons. His team was among the nation’s leaders in total rebounds (first and No. 9 in the country), offensive rebounding (first and 29th), rebounding margin (first and 13th), 3-point percentage (first and 16th), scoring margin (second and 20th), 3-pointers made (third and 17th), scoring (third and 38th) and field goal percentage (third and 59th). The Owls again had a win at the C-USA Tournament.

The 2021-22 campaign saw the Owls finish 19-15 to rack up the third most wins in a season at FAU, including a trip to the Roman College Basketball Invitational (CBI), the program’s fourth-ever postseason tournament appearance.

The 2022-23 Season

Dusty May directed Florida Atlantic to its greatest season in history in the 2022-23 campaign. Leading into the postseason, the Owls own an impressive record of 28-3 and have achieved several accomplishments that have never been done in FAU history. First time since 2010-11 May led the Owls to a Conference USA Regular Season title for the program’s first championship. Also, May led the Owls to their first-ever Top 25 ranking in school history, as they reached No. 19 in the AP Top 25 poll and No. 20 in the USA Today Coaches poll.

Under May’s direction, the 2022-23 Owls have the most wins in school history, and the most conference wins in school & C-USA history (18), the longest winning streak in school history & had the third-longest streak in C-USA history (20 games).

May was named Conference USA Coach of the Year.