Florida Atlantic’s Dusty May recalls thinking he ‘just committed career suicide’ taking head coaching job

Dusty May has already taken Florida Atlantic to new heights with a Final Four appearance in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

However, the fifth-year head coach admitted Tuesday he thought he made a bad move when he initially took the Owls job. He told CBS Sports he signed a deal to become the head coach without looking at anything at the Boca Raton school. He made a gut decision.

“I walk in the room and I started crying and said, ‘I just committed career suicide. I’m not good enough. I can’t do this,’ May said he told his wife after signing the deal. “I’m not a big crier, but I burst into tears like a baby.”

May said the facilities were out of date when he finally got to tour them. He was coming over from Florida as an assistant under Mike White. Brian White, Mike’s brother, is the athletic director at Florida Atlantic.

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“At that point, I still haven’t been to our gym, our weight room, our locker room,” May added. “The facilities weren’t up to par. And I had already accepted the job…  I would’ve left and went back to Gainesville after signing the contract if it wasn’t for my relationship with Mike (White) and his family.”

May credited his wife for convincing him to stay the course. He was 17-15 in his first and second seasons with Florida Atlantic. He won 13 games in the pandemic-shortened season and was 19-15 in year four.

Before his season, Florida Atlantic had only made the tournament one time – under Sidney Green in 2002. The team had only won more than 20 games once – under Mike Jarvis in 2011. May has helped Florida Atlantic soar to new heights.

Florida Atlantic is 35-3 and in the Final Four as a No. 9 seed. A win against San Diego State on Saturday night will put them in the national championship.