Three years after winning the 2023 Conference USA Coach of the Year award, Dusty May has received the same honor from the Big Ten. The 49-year-old earned the award after leading Michigan to a stellar 29-2 record in the 2025-2026 college basketball regular season.
May received the Coach of the Year nod from the Big Ten media, while Nebraska's Fred Hoiberg received it from the coaches' poll. May becomes the second different Michigan coach to win the award in the last six years, with Juwan Howard earning the national Coach of the Year award in 2021.
Dusty May of @umichbball is your Big Ten Coach of the Year, selected by the media 🫡 pic.twitter.com/vEnJEfIXuu
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) March 10, 2026
May responded to his first Big Ten honor by calling it a “staff and Team of the Year award” on X, formerly Twitter.
In just two years, May took a team that went 8-24 the year before his hiring to breaking conference records. Michigan became the first Big Ten team to go undefeated on the road win 19 games in conference play. It also set the record for the best start in league history and the most wins by 40 points or more in a single season.
Michigan's dominance allowed it to clinch the conference regular-season title in February, a rare feat in a competitive power conference. The Wolverines look to defend their Big Ten Tournament title as the No. 1 seed.
Dusty May headlines Michigan's 2026 Big Ten award takeover
May is the 2026 Big Ten Coach of the Year, but he was far from the only Wolverine to receive an award on Tuesday.
The head coach was joined by star forward Yaxel Lendeborg, who received the unanimous Big Ten Player of the Year award. May called the UAB transfer the “obvious” choice for the award after Michigan's Senior Night win over Michigan State, and both polls evidently agreed.
Yaxel Lendeborg of @umichbball is your Big Ten Player of the Year 😤 pic.twitter.com/zyuqcTy1qc
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) March 10, 2026
Wolverines center Aday Mara also won the 2026 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award from the conference coaches' poll. Mara's 3.6 blocks per game led the league and tied for fifth in the country.
A season as dominant as Michigan's would only be right to end with a collection of hardware, but the Wolverines are still on the hunt for the one they truly care about.
