Warde Manuel or College Basketball: Who's to Blame For Dusty May Leaving Michigan?

After just two seasons, Dusty May is out as the Wolverines' head coach. Who gets the blame?

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After just two seasons in Ann Arbor, Dusty May is out as Michigan's head coach. News comes after the Wolverines won their first national title since 1989, and May added three transfers, along with one of the top 2026 recruiting classes in the country.

Even though Michigan was expected to compete for another Big Ten title, and go for a repeat in the NCAA Tournament, May is gone. He is off to the NBA where he will coach Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks.

Michigan is once again on its heels during a crucial time. The first time was the football program, and now it's the basketball team. Mike Boynton Jr. will hope to put the pieces together and salvage a roster that was full of talent and promise, but he's just an interim right now, and Michigan could do its due diligence to find its next head coach.

Warde Manuel is 0-2

This is now the second time in three years that Michigan won a national title and the head coach bolted to the pros. It was Jim Harbaugh following the Wolverines' 2023 national title, and on Monday, it was May.

Harbaugh was under a lot of scrutiny, following the Connor Stalions sign-stealing saga, but there was also clearly a rift between Harbaugh, athletic director Warde Manuel, and the department itself. Manuel kept saying he wanted to extend Harbaugh, and maybe he did, but Harbaugh wasn't feeling the love, and opted to go back to the NFL, where he is coaching the Los Angeles Chargers.

As far as May, the Wolverines tried. Fans aren't happy with Manuel, and rightly so. There have been a lot of issues inside Michigan athletics and there is one common denominator. But this time, even though he is going to get the fault, this wasn't Manuel's fault — May chose this.

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In a packed Crisler Center following Michigan's win over UConn to win the national title, Manuel announced he and May had agreed on a new deal that would keep May around Ann Arbor for a long time. The deal had never been signed, which may be telling.

But May echoed similar sentiments since the announcement.

"I haven't signed," May said at the end of April. "Warde and I agreed to the terms and the structure. And then after that, there's still some I's to dot and T's to cross. And I think anyone that's ever dealt with attorneys know that it's not as if you're making a red line change and it's turned back. And same thing with agents and attorneys on the other side.

"So yeah, Warde and I have agreed to terms just like last year. I think we ended up signing it in July. I don't know when this will get signed. I think it's whenever things get turned back. But yeah, we've agreed to the terms. There's no second guessing or second thoughts. It's my mind, the handshake, it was done on the handshake."

But the collegiate landscape is out of control

It was just a few days ago that May was speaking to Jeff Goodman on The Field of 68 about his team and the outlook for the 2026-27 season. May was excited about his roster and what the new season was going to look like.

So what caused this bombshell of news to break? If you believe that both Manuel and May had agreed on a deal, which was never signed, and that May was given everything he wanted — you can point at the collegiate landscape. Or the mess that it's in.

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According to CBS Sports' Matt Norlander, in an unreported conversation with May, he didn't think he was going to last another three to four years coaching college basketball.

"I remember how May stopped texting and looked up from this phone when I asked him: 'Do you think you'll be coaching Michigan in three or four years?"

"No," he admitted. "I can't see myself doing this for too much longer."

"By that he meant: running a college basketball program when roster prices were increasing by 300% every year. The constant roster churn, the lack of the NCAA's institutional control over college basketball, the way the system stole some of the fervor and celebration windows from Michigan's coaching staff after pulling off one of the best seasons of the past two decades."

Norlander would also go on to say that May spoke to a transfer portal target, who committed to May on the phone. But due to this player's agent, he would ultimately play elsewhere for the 2026-27 season. That's the collegiate landscape in a nutshell.

It's the price you pay

May and Co. couldn't even enjoy the Wolverines' national title like they should've been able to. Why? Because the NCAA opted to open the transfer portal at midnight following Michigan's win. The coaches had to get back to work after cutting down the net.

Between the NCAA and its rules, or lack thereof, 24/7 recruiting, and dealing with the new era of NIL and the transfer portal — it's never-ending as a college basketball coach. Ultimately, May won the Wolverines a national title despite all of it.

May has hinted before of wanting to try his hand int he NBA, and after winning a title, and getting out of the messy college basketball landscape — he made his move. It's the price you pay for winning. When you're a top coach and win championships, teams are going to be looking at you.

While fans are going to blame Manuel and likely be upset with May, you can ultimately blame the state of collegiate athletics.