The Dallas Mavericks have named Dusty May of Terre Haute, Indiana as their new head coach. May takes over from Jason Kidd, who parted ways with Dallas on May 19, 2026.
The fact that Kidd parted ways with the Mavericks organization is interesting when he had four years left and $40 million worth on his contract. However, it was not a huge surprise for two reasons–a) Dallas was looking at moving into a different direction after having a disastrous 2025-26 season when they had a record of 26 wins and 56 losses for a winning percentage of .317, and b) new Mavericks president Masai Ujiri wanted an opportunity to start fresh and with a clean slate. That included having an opportunity to pick a new coach after two disappointing seasons in Dallas since the franchise traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers on February 2, 2025.
Ujiri has hired someone without NBA coaching experience. May has spent the last two years as the head coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines. Before that, he was coaching at Florida Atlantic University Owls for six seasons. In eight seasons coaching at the National Collegiate Athletic Association level, May has a record of 190 wins and 82 losses for a winning percentage of .699.
May also had two Final Four appearances as a head coach in the last four years. He took the Owls to the college basketball semifinals in 2023, before narrowly losing 72-71 to San Diego State. Then in 2026, the Wolverines defeated the University of Connecticut Huskies 69-63 in the NCAA championship game.
Prior to being a college basketball head coach, May spent many years as a college basketball assistant coach. He was with Eastern Michigan from 2005 to 2006, Murray State for one season from 2006 to 2007, University of Alabama at Birmingham for two seasons from 2007 to 2009, Louisiana Tech for six seasons from 2009 to 2015, and three seasons at the University of Florida from 2015 to 2018.
