Could Indiana make a play for Dusty May? Here’s what I’d do if I were Michigan athletics director Warde Manuel

Next month, Indiana will hire its fourth coach in an eight-year span. Here’s the first dossier of candidates for the job. There are 16 names included, and I think it’s highly probable IU’s next coach is in that story linked in the sentence before this one. One of the names is Michigan’s Dusty May, who was once Indiana’s Dusty May, back when he was a student manager for Bob Knight.

It’s unknown where or how high May ranks on Hoosiers’ athletic director Scott Dolson’s list.

It’s unknown how much May would covet or seriously consider leaving Michigan (after one season) for his alma mater.

Maybe May doesn’t become a candidate. 

Right now, it’s reasonable to speculate he could be.

Michigan spun out fast under Juwan Howard only to revive its program immediately under May. To assume he’d stick around just because he’s been there less than a year would be naive. May’s current deal pays him $3.75 million annually over a five-year span. It’s a good contract but not a great one; May could have commanded more last year when he turned down Louisville and Vanderbilt. If Michigan AD Warde Manuel believes he has a coach who can be one of the best in the sport over the next decade — and why wouldn’t he? Michigan (19-5, 11-2) is in first place in the Big Ten after beating Purdue — he’d better be working with May’s agent to amend the paperwork ASAP.

It would be AD malpractice to allow even a window of possibility for Indiana to not pay top dollar. If there’s even a slight chance you lose him, make Indiana sign over an extraordinary amount of money in the process. 

Think it can’t happen? There is precedent for this in the past decade. 

In 2017, Brad Underwood turned a plodding, 12-win Oklahoma State program into a quick-rising 20-win team with an NCAA Tournament appearance and the No. 1 offense in college basketball in a year’s time. Underwood’s agent, Bret Just, tried for more than a month to get OSU to renegotiate a deal, but then-OSU AD Mike Holder didn’t treat the situation with urgency. Prior to Illinois firing John Groce on March 11, 2017, third parties contacted Just to gauge Underwood’s interest. After the firing, Illinois AD Josh Whitman zealously courted Underwood, yet only a handful of people knew.

Six days after Groce was fired, Oklahoma State lost in the first round of the NCAAs to, of all teams, Michigan. Less than 24 hours later Underwood bolted to Illinois in a move that stunned the industry. The Fighting Illini have been a top-three Big Ten program since he took the job, with six NCAA Tournament-level teams in eight seasons. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State is 60-88 vs. Big 12 opponents with only one NCAA Tournament bid since it let Underwood get away. (As fate would have it, Mike Boynton inherited the OSU job after Underwood left; he’s now May’s top assistant at Michigan.)

Who knows what direction Indiana chooses. Maybe this never becomes a thing. But if I’m Manuel, I’m wasting no time to get an amended term sheet on May’s desk as soon as possible. For more, Gary Parrish and I discussed this on Monday’s Eye on College Basketball on CBS Sports Network.

This article was a takeout from the Court Report, the weekly college basketball notebook from CBS Sports senior writer/insider Matt Norlander.