Dusty May addresses how NIL impacts ability to build roster
Michigan head coach Dusty May acknowledged how much NIL factors into roster building these days. That goes for high school players and transfers.
Coming from Florida Atlantic, one would think May has more resources as he begins his tenure in Ann Arbor. He’s honest with players, his staff, administration and the collective around Michigan regarding NIL.
May wanted to balance on that fine line of what’s appropriate and what might be too much.
“I’ve been very upfront, I would love our guys to be taken care of as much as any players in the country,” May said. “Right now, that’s probably not feasible. l think everyone in our locker room will be making sacrifices whether it’s financial, whether it’s minutes, and that’s ultimately, great teams have probably got eight or nine guys that deserve a start that are capable of starting.
“I think the championship teams aren’t going out and just being the highest bidder. So I think there’s always that fine line of (NIL) being important, but it (also) not being the most important thing.”
There’s different situations regarding who gets what in terms of NIL. Sometimes it’s the players that are better off capitalizing in college rather than the NBA.
“And once again, every situation is different,” May said. “Hey, if there’s a young player that has a very, I guess, limited value professionally, and they have a chance to maximize their value now and it’s the most money they could ever make playing basketball then that might be right for them to capitalize and go after the top dollar.
“If it’s someone that has professional aspirations, and maybe the goal of making millions of dollars in the NBA, then they probably should choose the right fit as far as development, style of play, conference affiliation, whatever the case. So it’s just like everything else, every case is different, but we’ve had to weigh that in every recruitment.”
May made it known that Michigan won’t be top dollar for every recruit and transfer and he doesn’t want to operate in that capacity.
“And that’s part of the information gathering phase where if the absolute top dollar is what you’re looking for, then we’re probably not going to have what you’re looking for,” May said. “And we’re gonna go in another direction. And philosophically, we want the first question to be about development and relationships. And then after that, hopefully that the name image and likeness piece fits.”