Dusty May on Building a Contender

Dusty May is the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Florida Atlantic University. You may have heard of Dusty and his program based on last season’s success in college basketball. They won 35 games and they became a darling during the NCAA tournament when they made it to the Final Four in an incredible run. What’s interesting about that run is Dusty took over the program 5 years ago, and since taking over they have not had a losing season. But Florida Atlantic has had plenty of losing in their past; they actually have only been around since the 90’s as a program. So, Dusty is really in the process of building something and there are high expectations for this upcoming season as well. So, we’ll talk about expectations in this conversation. We’ll also talk about why he decided to stay at Florida Atlantic. He obviously had other opportunities to go elsewhere, to go to bigger programs with bigger budgets and more opportunities to recruit, and Dusty decided to stay at Florida Atlantic, he loves it there and he really is in the process of trying to build something special at that campus, and I wouldn’t put it past him to be able to do so. In this conversation, we talk about the culture that he builds, the staff that he wants to surround his players with, we talk about things like loyalty and teamwork, and what it takes to build a consistent winner. Dusty is an enthusiastic guy. He’s going to talk about likability in this conversation, and he’s one of the most likable people I’ve had the good fortune of having on this podcast. 

Dusty had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“At different times of our life and stages of our career, we all want something different” (7:50).

“Growing up in this business, loyalty becomes something that’s almost ingrained in you” (10:50).

“We didn’t expect our guys to come back out of loyalty, we expected them to make the best decisions for them, their families, and their futures” (11:10).

“Imposter syndrome is much more common than people realize” (13:25).

“I’m very comfortable in my own skin” (15:30).

“Sometimes doing too much can actually backfire and take you in reverse” (17:40).

“I love being a coach, it’s a big part of my identity because I have so much respect not only for the profession, but for the impact my coaches had on me” (18:50).

“Any time you see your parents do something that they absolutely love to do, you’re probably inclined to at least give it a shot” (22:45).

“As long as we’re surrounded with a great staff who’s committed to helping our players, and as long as our players are committed to being the best they can be… then it’d be very difficult for me to be unhappy” (25:45).

“We spend a lot of time trying to read the room and tailoring our messaging to what the team needs” (34:45).

“I got most of my satisfaction, personally, during the [Final Four] run from seeing our players and their families and the joy it brought so many people together” (36:10).

“I’m process-oriented; the outcome is not what drives me” (36:15).

“I would be very disappointed if our players didn’t think practice was enjoyable most of the time” (41:30).

“There is joy in the work” (41:50).

“I know how difficult it is to be the coach’s son” (48:50).

“What I love to do doesn’t have to be what [my kids] love to do” (50:20).

“It’s not basketball. You’re coaching life; you’re coaching people” (52:20).

“A big part of my job is teaching” (59:50).

“It’s the joy of competing, it’s the joy of the work, it’s the joy of doing it together; those are the things I love much more than being the only one standing at the end of the season” (1:02:55).

Additionally, you can follow Dusty on Twitter.

Thank you so much to Dusty for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.