Ohio State Basketball: 9 candidates to replace Chris Holtmann as Head Coach

Dusty May

Much like the case with a few earlier names, all of these power conference coaching searches are going to include a few of the same names. Those particular names change on a yearly basis as coaches get hired or fired from their mid-major gigs, but it’s clear that nearly every program wants a piece of May. The question is if there’s mutual interest for the Illinois native to rejoin the Big Ten.

May began his basketball career as a student manager at Indiana under Bob Knight nearly a quarter century ago. He would bounce around at several schools as an assistant before spending seven years assisting Mike White at both Louisiana Tech and Florida.  His head coaching career began with Florida Atlantic in 2018, though everyone knows what he’s done recently with the Owls. May led the program to the Final Four last season, winning 35 games in an amazing breakthrough performance.

May signed a long-term deal and stayed in Boca Raton after the Final Four run, but how much longer will he be willing to stay at Florida Atlantic? It’s possible he could wait for the Indiana job to open up one day, but Ohio State would get him back to the Big Ten. It would be a job with better resources in a better league. Considering what he did at a school like Florida Atlantic, with virtually zero basketball history before last season, imagine what he could do for the Buckeyes down the line.