Three reasons Michigan head coach Dusty May will win more National Championships than Tom Izzo

University of Michigan men's basketball head coach Dusty May has been a rising star in the world of college hoops for years. From leading unknown Florida Atlantic to a Final Four and most recently reshaping a Michigan program from an eight-win team to Big Ten Tournament champs, he has lived up to the hype. The real question is how good can Dusty May become?

Residing with May in the Big Ten is one of the most accomplished and storied head coaches in the history of the game. Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo holds a plethora of records, some that may never be broken. He is a four time Big Ten Coach of the Year winner, has 737 wins with a .709 winning percentage over 30 years, and has led his team to eight Final Fours and one National Championship. That is the biggest sticking point in Izzo's career... 30 years and only one National Championship?

At his current trajectory, May has a real shot of surpassing Izzo in that National Championship count and here is why:

1. Dusty May has embraced and thrived in the transfer portal

UAB Blazers forward Yaxel Lendeborg (3) Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

How did Dusty turn an eight-win program that got ran out of most gyms the year prior to his arrival? He went to the portal and grabbed seven game ready players. One of those players, Vlad Goldin, made All-Big Ten First Team, and another, Danny Wolf, is pegged as a solid first round NBA Draft pick. To prove it was no fluke May went out and secured the number one overall transfer class for this year, to include the number one overall rated player in Yaxel Lendeborg. Izzo has been critical of the portal and has not embraced it to the point of May. The portal is here to stay and failing to embrace it will elevate May's teams versus Izzo's. Game-ready players make building a championship level team much easier.

2. Time left at the helm

Father time is undefeated, and Tom Izzo is no exception to that fact. Next season Izzo will turn 71 years old while May is 23 years younger at 48. Izzo may have some years left in him as a head coach, but May has more and is only chasing one championship. If Izzo had won multiple National Championships during his long and historic tenure in East Lansing this would be a different story, he did not. Whether May stays at Michigan his entire career as Izzo did at Michigan State remains to be seen, but given his ability to recruit the portal and rebuild teams every year odds are he will have more shots than Izzo.

3. NIL and alumni support

From left to right: Christopher Ilitch, Mayor Mike Duggan, Santa Ono, Stephen Ross, and Mary Sheffield hold a shovel during the groundbreaking event for the University of Michigan Center for Innovation | David Rodriguez Munoz / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Michigan fan base, to include one of the largest alumni pools in the nation, are most happy when football and basketball are equally succesful. Donors and collectives know this and have signaled a willingness to support the basketball squad with NIL efforts. They will never reach the heights that the football program does, but even a fraction of Michigan's NIL war chest beats out rival schools. Izzo and MSU have decent supporters as well, but Izzo himself is critical of NIL and does not seem to be willing ot utilize it like Michigan does. This gives May a great advantage on the recruiting and portal trail.

With May attacking the NIL and transfer portal opportunities I really think he could easily be a multiple National Champion over the next decade. During that same decade I expect Izzo to finally step down from MSU, and I don't anticipate Izzo winning another National Championship.

Michigan Wolverines head coach Dusty May. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

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