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Dusty May's career began with a knock on Calipari's door
Summary
Dusty May traveled to Memphis in 2000 to ask John Calipari for a job and took a volunteer graduate assistant role while working part time; over the next two decades he moved through assistant positions and eventually became a head coach, including at Florida Atlantic and now Michigan.
Content
Dusty May's rise in college basketball started with a direct visit to John Calipari's office in Memphis in 2000. He had worked as a student manager at Indiana under Bob Knight and later served as a volunteer graduate assistant for Calipari while holding a part-time job. Friends and colleagues recall May driving overnight in a borrowed vehicle to seek a role with Calipari. Those early choices led to many assistant posts and eventual head coaching assignments over the following years.
Known details:
- Dusty May worked as a student manager at Indiana under Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight.
- In 2000 he volunteered as a graduate assistant under John Calipari in Memphis and held a part-time FedEx job.
- He reportedly drove overnight to Memphis in a borrowed minivan to ask Calipari for a position and was hired.
- May later worked at USC, returned to Indiana, and became an assistant under Mike Davis in 2004 before serving at Eastern Michigan, Louisiana Tech and Florida under Mike White.
- He became head coach at Florida Atlantic, where the program reached an unprecedented Final Four three years ago, and he is now the Michigan Wolverines coach.
Summary:
May's decision to seek a role with Calipari set the tone for a more than two-decade coaching journey across multiple programs and roles. That persistence preceded high-profile head coaching posts and a Final Four appearance for Florida Atlantic. Undetermined at this time.
