Good read on UM coach, hope he sticks around for a bit. I do wonder, when he goes, if he would enjoy the NBA egos’ after reading the full article.
# Why Dusty May hired a coach working in Japan who he’s never met
full article at link.
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When Nagasaki Velca head basketball coach Mody Maor’s cell phone rang in March and an American number showed up, he ignored it, figuring it was some random agent from the United States who wanted something.
Then the number followed up with a text message. It was Michigan coach Dusty May, letting Maor know that he had an opening on his staff and wanted to talk.
The message caught Maor off guard. The head coach of a team that was about to win the national championship was interested in hiring an Israeli coach currently working in Japan who had never coached in the United States — and who he’d never even met.
“I wanted to go hire a coach who’s better than me,” May told The Athletic recently.
May’s curiosity has led him to many different places, and he stumbled upon this find two years ago when Maor was on Slappin’ Glass, a basketball coaching podcast that brings on coaches from around the world, and of which May is an avid listener. May jotted down an idea at the time — rules Maor had for screening angles in transition — and he moved about his day.
Then in March, after Justin Joyner was hired off May’s staff to be the head coach at Oregon State, someone brought up Maor’s name to May, and he started digging. He always has a floating list of coaches he’d consider if one of his assistants left him, and many who occupy that list aren’t among the favorites in his contacts.
“I’ve never met most of the guys that I’ve hired,” he said. The thought of someone this far outside his network piqued May’s interest.
“I think sometimes whenever you win, like we did this year, you think you have the secret sauce or the formula,” May says. “We’re never going to be a program that’s playing the same way 30 years from now as we do today, just because that’s what we know.”
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May wanted someone who saw the game through a different lens, but this was so far outside the box that Maor wasn’t sure he should even consider it. Maor, after all, was coaching the best team in Japan and would eventually learn the pay would be about half of what he would have made next season if he had stayed in Japan. But then he started calling around.
First, Arkansas State coach Ryan Pannone, who had coached alongside Maor in Israel 10 years ago and had already talked to May about the possibility of adding Maor to his staff. “I was shocked,” Pannone says.
Once that wore off, Pannone loved the idea. He told them both they were perfect for each other. He told May that Maor is the smartest guy in any room, and he told Maor that May has no ego.
Then, Maor called Egor Koulechov, an Israeli player he knew who had played at Florida when May was an assistant. “Five-star human,” Maor recalls Koulechov telling him, adding that May found a way to connect with Koulechov but also challenge him.
Maor kept calling around. Kept getting the same messages. He couldn’t find anyone who said anything negative about May.
“In this business, that is damn near impossible,” Maor says. “That says a lot. It’s always around the same things. Genuine.”
==May also believes that Maor’s abilities in player development will help him in recruiting. Several of the recommendations for Maor came from agents who had sent their players to play for Maor.
“In today’s climate, the traditional assistant is becoming obsolete,” May says. “The agents have more influence than ever, and agents are businessmen first, and they’re going to want to send their clients to whoever they think can develop them the best and the quickest and help them maximize their ability.”
May also believes Maor will be able to provide better intel on international players.
“He can streamline the information quicker,” May says. “Some colleges have really struggled with the international market of grabbing guys that just aren’t very good and overpaying them and not getting the right intel. I think he can help with that tremendously.”
The final selling point that convinced May he’d found the right guy was the type of questions Maor asked. He wanted to know about staff chemistry, how the Michigan coaches worked together and how collaborative they were.