Former Michigan basketball head coach praises new hire

He was instrumental in the new hire. #GoBlue

While Michigan’s 2023-24 basketball season might not have lived up to expectations, the program has a new sense of direction after replacing Juwan Howard with former Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May.

The May hire came as a surprise to many as he was originally expected to take the Louisville job, but former Michigan head coach John Beilein was able to sit down with him and swing his decision at the last minute.

“I asked him several questions,” May said. “We just talked basketball and what we thought the best way to win here was.”

Beilein was Michigan’s head coach from 2007 to 2019, leading Michigan to two national title games and nine total tournament appearances. Beilein is currently serving in an off-the-court role for the Detroit Pistons but obviously still has love for Michigan.

So, of course, it was natural for Beilein to give May his public vote of confidence.

May is an exciting hire plain and simple. He spent six seasons at FAU and went 126-69 in that time frame. His FAU tenure concluded with back-to-back March Madness bids and a Final Four run in 2023. Unfortunately for May, FAU was bounced from the dance in the first round this year after getting in as an eighth seed. Importantly, however, May never had a season below .500 at FAU despite the previous seven seasons before his arrival being under the mark.

The guy just finds a way to win. He turned around FAU and made it into a strong mid-major conference contender, so there’s no reason he won’t be a terrific hire at Michigan.

Of course, May will have his work cut out for him when his first season starts later in 2024. The Wolverines have already lost leading scorer Dug McDaniels to the NCAA transfer portal with promising center Tarris Reed entering his name as well. The first task on his plate will, of course, be building a roster… and this is where Michigan fans will need to practice patience. Due to the nature of the transfer portal, May has already lost his two best players and might see more leave before the season starts. It’s a tough task to ask a new head coach to pull together a competent team without strong NIL or any returning talent, so it might be another sad season or two before Michigan is back playing in March Madness.

Bickerstaff, 42, replaced John Beilein …

Bickerstaff, 42, replaced John Beilein midway through the 2019-2020 season with the Cavaliers, after having taken over in both Houston and Memphis as interim coach. The Cavaliers won just 19 games in the 2019-2020 season, and 22 games in 2020-2021. Cleveland has improved its win percentage points by .288, the largest increase in the NBA this season.

Tom Izzo can’t hate Michigan, tells John Beilein: ‘You made me better’

The MSU head coach shares why he doesn’t hate Michigan and why John Beilein made him a better coach.

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It took a couple of years, but once John Beilein got going at Michigan, he managed to come close to evening the score of a lopsided rivalry.

Though his predecessor, Tommy Amaker, had managed to beat rival Michigan State in his penultimate regular-season game as the head coach of the Wolverines, it took Beilein until he got his first win against Tom Izzo’s Spartans. Then, he rattled off three-straight, and the contest became much closer to even. Beilein may have only won 9-of-23, but given that that game was usually an automatic loss in the decade before, it changed the culture of the rivalry.

Izzo lost his first five to Michigan before rattling off eight-straight wins over the Wolverines, having also won 14-of-17 from 1998 until Beilein arrived in 2007. But then, the rivalry became much more even. And Izzo told Beilein on BTN’s Huddle Up that his inclusion into the matchup made him not only a better coach but made him not hate his rival the way he had before.

“I think when you came to Michigan — I always laugh, because you’ve gotta hate your rival,” Izzo said. “But I always respected — and with you, I couldn’t even hate my rival anymore. You made me better, because you came in here, beat us a few times, then we did there. Once you look at it, it was a pretty even run once we got going.

“And you know what — you said it, and I think Juwan will do a good job and everything — but if you would have stayed a few more years, we would have caught that Duke-North Carolina rivalry.”

Michigan leads the all-time series 94-85, and Beilein famously noted that the rivalry was very similar to the aforementioned ACC rivalry.

Izzo credits the former Wolverines coach for helping elevate the game to national status, as the duo agrees that the final contest of the regular season should always be played between the maize and blue and green and white.

“It was special, you helped made it special, but I think the best part is there was great respect,” Izzo said. “Because we were both doing it the right way. We both maybe did it different ways, but it was the right way in a sport that’s done the wrong way a lot. And for that, I will always respect, admire (you).”

Watch below:

https://www.facebook.com/46198039021/videos/460540672013138

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The Cavs will not do a salary dump for …

The Cavs will not do a salary dump for Love. They want some combination of draft picks and young, ascending players for Love. Now, in order to get that kind of haul, which many around the league continue to scoff at, the Cavs would likely need to take back a bloated salary. In that kind of package, the draft pick would be considered the Cavs’ sweetener in exchange for the other team’s bad, lengthier salary. It’s clear Cleveland’s view on Love doesn’t align with the rest of the league. That’s normal. The Cavs like him. They don’t regret the signing. They were expecting a monster season before his emotions intervened and 2019-20 went off the rails under John Beilein. But circumstances surrounding Love’s down year have changed and he’s set up to rebound. It could allow him to alter his trade value.

But the Cavs want to compete in …

But the Cavs want to compete in 2020-21. This is Year 3 of the rebuild, the season everyone in the organization, including owner Dan Gilbert, has been pointing toward in hopes of taking the next step. Andre Drummond’s arrival at the deadline accelerates the rebuild timeline. Bickerstaff is locked in as head coach. The Cavs are expecting internal improvements from the core of youngsters and many of their top rotational pieces will be back. If the Cavs are going to take that next step and at least get closer to the playoff picture, they will need Love, their best — and most important — player. Plus, what’s the point of dumping Love? What would the Cavs do with that extra salary space? In a weak free agent class, there’s no one to sign, so no rush to move on from Love — unless the Cavs get a quality offer that makes them a better team in the short and long term.

Former Wolverines star Nik Stauskas …

Former Wolverines star Nik Stauskas spoke on the Big Ten Network’s Take Ten Podcast, in which he details meeting with his former coach John Beilein and warning him about the differences between college and the professional ranks. “I told him, ‘It’s different up there. They’re not going to listen to you and buy in the same way these 18-year-olds coming into Michigan will,” Stauskas continued, “‘it was more of like an ego-personality thing that you are going to be dealing with once you get to the NBA. You have guys making a lot of money, there’s entitlement, there are all of these different things there that aren’t necessarily at Michigan that you don’t have to deal with. So, I warned him of different things.’”

The Cavs were eager to make him the …

There was also the game in Toronto …

There was also the game in Toronto around New Year’s when Love pounded the bench and momentarily pulled himself from the game. According to sources close to Love, that was a breaking point, letting his trade desire be known to those around him. That moment also led to Love being fined and lashing out at Beilein and the organization for the improper way the fine was delivered.