Episode 2: Dusty May, Action Items as a First Time Head Coach

Florida Atlantic head coach to Dusty May joins the Basketball Podcast to share insights on taking over and building a basketball program.

Dusty May led Florida Atlantic to its greatest season in school history in the 2022-23 campaign. Heading into the postseason, the Owls own a remarkable record of 28-3 and have accomplished several feats that have never been done in FAU history. May led the Owls to a Conference USA Regular Season title for the program’s first championship since 2010-11. Additionally, May led the Owls to their first ever Top 25 ranking in school history, climbing as high as No. 19 in the AP Top 25 poll and No. 20 in the USA Today Coaches poll.

Dusty May Breakdown:

1:00 – First Action Item of a New Coach

2:00 – Current Roster Transition

3:30 – Improving the Roster

5:30 – Getting Better Players for the Program

6:30 – X and 0’s

8:20 – Coaching Ideas and the Process

9:30 – Playing with a Fast Tempo Philosophy and Establishing that Identity as a Program

11:00 – Scouting Individual Strengths and Giving Trusts to the New Set of Players

13:00 – Scoring Percentages in the Half Court vs Transition

14:40 – “Was that a Good Shot?”

16:00 – Next Steps after Roster Transition

18:00 – Individual Skills vs Team Concept in Training

20:00 – “Beating the Best Team in the League” Philosophy

22:00 – Coach May’s Basketball Coaching Philosophy and Applying other Coaching Philosophies

24:00 – Tweaking and Evaluating Offensive Plan

27:00 – Reading Books outside Basketball

29:30 – The Coaching Staff

31:00 – Empowering Players

32:00 – Seeking Feedback from Players

34:00 – Game Preparation for future Opponents

35:30 – Discussion on Western Conference Finals Game 7

40:00 – NBA Philosophies in the NCAA Game

41:00 – Building Chemistry Off the Court

44:00 – Recruiting Players who Love the Game