It’s Christmas in April for May.
FAU coach Dusty May officially signed a 10-year contract extension, putting pen to paper shortly more than a week after coaching the ninth-seeded, 35-win Owls to the Final Four stage. The school announced the news Saturday evening.
The Owls came one basket away from playing UConn in the national championship game, losing at the buzzer to San Diego State on Lamont Butler’s shot.
May and FAU athletic director Brian White exclusively told CBS Sports in the lead-up to the Final Four that a lucrative deal was in the works and would be signed shortly after the end of the season. That day came Saturday.
“I love it here. I love our players, I love our staff, and the only thing I’ve been focused on since the beginning was doing the best job for our team,” May told CBS Sports two days before FAU played in the Final Four. “I was doing my job and I never had any intent of leaving.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed by FAU, but CBS Sports learned that May’s pay will skyrocket well north of $1 million annually. It’s a financial commitment that not only reflects the incredible accomplishments from FAU this season but will also put May in the contractual ballpark of many more coaches in the American Athletic Conference. FAU is leaving Conference USA for the AAC this summer.
READ: Dusty May wanted to quit hours after signing his FAU contract in 2018. Now he’s guiding one of the best stories in sports
“We could not be more grateful and excited to have coach May lead this program into the future,” White told CBS Sports at the Final Four. “The way he leads this program is incredible from a wins-and-losses perspective, but just as important is the culture he builds, the student-athlete experience he contributes to, the people he brings to FAU. We’re so proud of our men’s basketball program and are extremely excited about the opportunity to have Dusty leading it into the future.”
There will also be a significant pay hike for May’s assistants, and in recent weeks, the school has been the beneficiary of financial windfalls that are affording FAU players NIL opportunities, too. Beyond that, more than $10 million has been raised for FAU’s basketball facilities. White told CBS Sports that some refurbishing will begin this spring, with much more on the way later this offseason.
At this stage, the expectation is that every FAU player who was in the rotation from this past season — who has not exhausted their eligibility — will return to Boca Raton and play under May in 2023-24. That projected rotation is why FAU is ranked all the way up at No. 5 in our Never Too Early Top 25 And 1.
CBS Sports was the only outlet to name May the National Coach of the Year. FAU’s 35 wins were the most of any program in men’s Division I. The Owls had zero tournament wins in the NIT and NCAAs prior to this season. At 101 victories, May is the winningest coach in program history after just five seasons.
