“Would you have any interest in this job?”
Schmitz’s timing was perfect, May told him. May had just returned home from the Big Ten’s spring meetings, where the league’s coaches met to discuss, among other things, the state of the game.
“I was so excited for Big Ten meetings, like ‘we’re going to find some solutions,’” May told The Athletic this week. “I go there and I was just like, ‘Oh my God, nothing’s getting fixed. Ever.’”
May said the Big Ten coaches were still complaining about the transfer portal and changes to the game that he saw as irreversible.
“We’ve got to stop talking about the stuff that we can’t change,” May said.
That was not the only reason May left for the Mavericks, but the timing of spring meetings and Schmitz’s call at least made him open to the possibility. May was able to think through every scenario and contemplate what was right for him for several weeks. The news broke that he took the job on June 22, almost a month after that first conversation with Schmitz.
The Athletic