In the fall after Dusty May took Florida Atlantic on a shocking run to the Final Four in 2023, the Atlanta Hawks invited him to attend their training camp. When he returned to FAU, he told his staff he thought he could coach at that level.For those who know May best, the NBA is where they thought he would always land. In those FAU days, one of his staffers called him “Dusty May Stevens,” referencing the former Butler coach and current Boston Celtics executive, whose practices May used to visit.“Similar to Brad, the way he thinks (about) the game is ahead of everyone else,” a source close to May said.On Monday, May followed in Stevens’ footsteps, leaving Michigan to become the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks.The timing sent shockwaves through the college basketball universe, because May just won a national title and was only two seasons in at Michigan. Not since Larry Brown left for the San Antonio Spurs in 1988 has a coach won a national title and left to coach another team the next year, and Brown’s Kansas program was going on probation that next year. May rebuilt a top-five roster this spring and would have had a chance to repeat.May, 49, was also as good as it gets at navigating the new age of college basketball — from recruiting the transfer portal to fundraising and coaching what feels like a new team every year — but according to sources close to him, granted anonymity for their candor, that grind wore on him this past year.“I think the lack of structure in college basketball/athletics was beginning to frustrate him — no guardrails and not having any visible solutions in the near future,” one of the sources said. “This thing that we have going on in college basketball, you’re going to keep losing these dudes like that, man. The really good ones are going to keep going because it beats you down. … You’re fundraising or meeting with agents or traveling, it’s hard for somebody like him who loves ball to be consumed with all the other stuff all the time.”Recently, May referenced a sign that hung in Bob Knight’s office that read something like, “just coach your team.” The lesson May learned as a student manager for Knight’s Indiana program was to worry about the things that impacted winning and impacted his players and their growth and development. Everything else had to be put on the back burner.That had proven difficult, especially after winning a national title. I followed May out of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on the night he won the championship, and he spent most of the walk back responding to the 1,001 unread messages on his phone, looking for messages from recruits. Since that night, he has been on the road more than ever, spending two or three days in a row in Ann Arbor between trips across the country for recruiting or fundraising.“You could kind of see the frustration and fatigue in the last year,” a source said. “You’ve been around him. He’s always on the go. Like he’s never tired. He’s always moving. … It’s just been nonstop where you reach the pinnacle and you don’t even get a chance to really enjoy any of it.”What May loves about coaching is the basketball and the relationships.“That’s always going to be at the core for him,” another source said. “He wants to coach ball.”