It’s been a busy offseason for the Michigan men’s basketball team, including a coaching change, a whole new coaching staff and 10 new players from the transfer portal and the freshman class.
Let’s recap this offseason so far, with a timeline of one of the busiest offseasons for the program in recent memory. This will focus on additions to the roster and won’t touch on departing players.
March 15: Warde Manuel fires Juwan Howard
In a press release that dropped a few days after Michigan was eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament, Manuel announced after a “comprehensive review of the program,” Juwan Howard would not return.
Howard posted an 82-67 record through five seasons as head coach. While he led the Wolverines to an Elite Eight in 2021 and a Sweet Sixteen in 2022, Michigan finished 8-24 overall and 3-18 in the Big Ten last season, the fewest conference wins since the Wolverines went 2-12 in 1966-67. Combine that with numerous issues off the court and Manuel felt the program needed a fresh start.
March 24: Michigan announces hiring of Dusty May
After being without a head coach for a little more than a week, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that May was being hired at Michigan after six seasons as Florida Atlantic’s head coach. That successful FAU tenure included a Final Four run in 2022 and an NCAA Tournament bid the following season.
March 26: May introduced as Michigan’s head coach at press conference
Both May and Manuel spoke at this press conference, with May expressing excitement to get back to the Midwest and Manuel shedding light on what was a relatively quick hiring process.
March 29: 2024 guard Durral Brooks re-affirms commitment to Michigan basketball
While he initially committed to Michigan under Howard, Brooks was technically the first player May landed, re-affirming his commitment a few days after the introductory presser. Brooks played high school ball at Grand Rapids Catholic Central and is rated 202nd in his class on 247Sports composite.
April 4: Will Tschetter announces return
A little more than a week after the introductory presser, Tschetter announced he would be returning to the program.
Tschetter has been at Michigan for three years now, and despite the team’s struggles, he had a pretty solid individual season as Michigan’s sixth man in 2023-24. He averaged 6.8 points and 2.4 rebounds per game while shooting 51.9 percent (28-for-54) from beyond the arc and 58.2 percent from the field.
April 18: Dusty May announces coaching staff
Before Michigan officially brought in any new players, May filled out the rest of his coaching staff. That coaching staff includes:
• Mike Boynton Jr., assistant coach, former Oklahoma State head coach
• Justin Joyner, assistant coach, former associate head coach at St. Mary’s
• Akeem Miskdeen, assistant coach, former assistant at Georgia
• Kyle Church, assistant coach/general manager, formerly at FAU
• Drew Williamson, assistant coach/director of player development, formerly at FAU
• Brandon Gilbert, special assistant to the head coach, formerly at FAU
April 19: 2024 guard Justin Pippen, North Texas guard Rubin Jones commit to Michigan
Pippen was the first new player May landed. Pippen, the son of NBA Hall-of-Famer Scottie Pippen, played high school ball at Sierra Canyon in California and is rated 106th overall on the 247Sports composite.
The Pippen commitment kicked off a busy weekend for the Wolverines, which continued with Jones committing to Michigan out of the portal later that day. Jones is North Texas’ all-time leading scorer, and averaged 12.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 39.6 percent from the field, 41.6 percent from three and 77.3 percent from the free throw line last season.
April 20: Yale center Danny Wolf commits to Michigan
May landed another commitment later that weekend in the 7-footer. Last season, Wolf averaged 14.1 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 47.2 percent from the field, 34.5 percent from three and 71.7 percent from the free throw line at Yale.
April 21: Auburn guard Tre Donaldson commits to Michigan
The busy recruiting weekend for the program continued, with Donaldson also committing to May’s program. He started in 10 of Auburn’s 35 games this past season, averaging 6.7 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 19.3 minutes per game.
April 22: Ohio State guard Roddy Gayle Jr., Alabama forward Sam Walters also commit
Michigan picked up its first transfer from the Big Ten, with Gayle coming over from Columbus. Gayle started in 35 of Ohio State’s 36 games last season and averaged 13.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game while shooting 44.9 percent from the field, 28.4 percent from three and 83.2 percent from the free throw line.
Gayle wasn’t the only one to commit on the 22nd, as Michigan also landed Walters, who played 12 minutes per game as a freshman with the Crimson Tide. He averaged 5.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. He also shot 42.7 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from three-point range.
April 23: 2024 commit L.J. Cason commits to Michigan
Cason was the third player in the true freshman class to join Michigan. A combo guard from Lakeland, Florida, Cason was previously committed to FAU.
April 29: FAU center Vlad Goldin commits to Michigan
Michigan landed one of the key pieces to FAU’s 2022 Final Four run in Vlad Goldin. This past season was his best, as he started all 34 games and put up career-highs in minutes (25.0), points (15.7), rebounds (6.9) and blocks (1.6). He shot 67.3 percent from the field and 66.3 percent from the free throw line. May utilized Goldin in the pick-and-roll a lot at FAU, and could do the same thing at Michigan.
April 30: Nimari Burnett announces return
Burnett joined Tschetter as a player from Michigan’s 2023-24 roster to return to the Wolverines. He started all 32 games last season and averaged 9.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists and shot 39.9 percent from the floor in 31.3 minutes per game.
June 10: Summer workouts commence
The Wolverines have been practicing for a good portion of this summer, working to mesh with all the new faces on this roster. We haven’t gotten much new info since workouts started, aside from the solid podcast interviews Brian Boesch has conducted with players , assistant coaches and Dusty May on Defend The Block.
August 5: Roster released
The Michigan Wolverines released their roster for the 2024-25 season last week. There is technically still one scholarship spot remaining; if May and his staff don’t want to add another player, they could either give that scholarship to a walk-on or utilize it to pursue another transfer or a 2025 recruit next season.
