When the sun rose on Monday morning, the Nebraska Cornhuskers were just going through their summer workouts and preparing for a follow-up to the best season in program history. By lunchtime, Fred Hoiberg and Co. saw what should be an easier road to repeat what they did a year ago, at least by a little. It’s hard to overstate the effect on the Big Ten conference that the departure of Michigan coach Dusty May to the NBA will have.
Reports started circulating late Monday morning that May would move on to the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA. In his place, the Wolverines are expected to announce assistant coach Mike Boynton to take over in an interim role. That interim tag at this point in the calendar means Michigan doesn’t plan to name anyone else until after the 2026-27 season. The good news keeps coming for the Huskers.
Rumors that May might look for a jump to the NBA have swirled since the Wolverines won the national title in May’s second season in Ann Arbor. His impact on the Wolverines in a short period of time was undeniable, even if Nebraska came close to knocking off May’s squad during the regular season last year.
May's departure is also a seismic shock to the college basketball landscape in general. The hire comes just one day before the NBA draft, as the Mavs will now have a new man running and reshaping the team and its roster. The jump is also almost two months after the transfer portal closed and nearly three months after North Carolina hired Michael Malone, seemingly ending the high-major conference coaching carousel.
Sources: Michigan is working toward hiring Mike Boynton Jr. as interim coach, per @PeteThamel, @jeffborzello and me. pic.twitter.com/UgJQ23KrEP
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 22, 2026
Michigan losing Dusty May could open door for Nebraska basketball
May guided Michigan to a dominant national championship run, beating UConn in the title game to cap a 37-3 season that featured 29 wins by double digits (Nebraska was one of just 8 single-digit wins for the Wolverines). May now becomes the first men's college basketball coach to leave in the offseason immediately following a national title since Larry Brown left Kansas for the San Antonio Spurs in 1988.
Reports indicate that Michigan AD Warde Manuel looked internally at Boynton on short notice, and the players have already been told of the change and the new head coach. Boynton has served as the team's defensive coordinator and has experience as a head coach at a high-major program.
However, this is where Nebraska really gets to see an opening, considering his stint as a Big 12 coach didn’t go too swimmingly. He spent seven seasons at the helm of Oklahoma State but only managed to lead the Cowboys to one NCAA tournament appearance. He has had some success as a recruiter, landing elite recruit Cade Cunningham, who went No. 1 overall in the 2021 NBA draft.
It’s clear that part of the reason the Wolverines moved so quickly to name Dusty May’s replacement is the new rules regarding coach departures and the transfer portal. Back in January, the NCAA changed its transfer portal policy to state that when a head coaching change occurs, players have a 15-day period to enter the portal. The transfer period begins five days after the new head coach is hired or publicly announced. Manuel likely wanted to speed up the process while keeping a coach the players know, because the timing means there are extremely slim pickings on the open market if the school loses anyone.
While Michigan will claim continuity and familiarity, suggesting they have a better chance of repeating this past season’s success, Nebraska fans should be excited that the evidence points in the opposite direction. When John Beilein left for the NBA around this same time, the Wolverines hired “Fab Five” alum Juwan Howard, who posted just an 87-72 record with his alma mater and famously faced numerous off-court issues.
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