Texas Tech Basketball: 10 candidates to replace Mark Adams as head coach

Dusty May

Each year’s cycle on the coaching carousel always produces a few new hot names. It’s usually coaches at mid-major programs that really shine, either with impressive regular seasons or Cinderella runs in the NCAA Tournament. We’re still over a week away from seeing who this year’s Cinderella will be, but Florida Atlantic has already had plenty of success this season and there’s a reason May will be on nearly all of these lists this offseason.

A former student manager for Bob Knight at Indiana, May has spent the last two decades bouncing around the collegiate coaching world. He was a video assistant at both Indiana and USC before a run of short stints at mid-majors. He then spent nearly a decade under Mike White at both Louisiana Tech and Florida before getting his first shot to run his program in 2018. He slowly built the Owls into a contender and has one of the best mid-majors in the nation: Florida Atlantic sits 28-3 and would likely earn an at-large bid if they fell in the CUSA Tournament this week.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but May has never worked in the state of Texas and the Red Raiders might want someone with more familiarity recruiting and coaching in the area. He’s probably one of the hottest names on the coaching market right now, and that profile could increase if the Owls have legitimate success next week. Still, you have to wonder how someone with only brief experience in the SEC would translate as a Big 12 head coach.