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Florida Atlantic University held its graduation ceremony on Friday, featuring an important returning guest. Former head coach of the Florida Atlantic Owls men's basketball team, Dusty May, was seen pictured with some of his players after the ceremony.
This caught the attention of another former Florida Atlantic head coach, Lane Kiffin, who is now in charge of the Ole Miss Rebels. He responded to Dusty May's picture with the students by posting on X:
"This is so awesome!!! @FAUMBB"
Dusty May has recently left the Florida Atlantic Owls to become the new head coach of the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball program.
He had been with the Owls for six seasons and generally had minimal success with the program. However, during the 2023 NCAA tournament, May was able to take the Owls to new heights.
In a tournament full of upsets, the No. 9 seeded Owls defeated the Memphis Tigers, the No. 16 seeded Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (who themselves had defeated the number one seeded Purdue), followed by Tennessee and Kansas State on their way to their first-ever appearance in the Final Four.
This put May and the Owls basketball team on the national watch list and were able to make the NCAA tournament again in 2024, crashing out in the round of 64.
Dusty May played a key part in the story of the story of Florida Atlantic athletics. Therefore, Lane Kiffin appreciated his act of attending the graduation ceremony of his former players at the school.
Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic
But Dusty May is not the only Florida Atlantic coach to leave Boca Raton for a larger program.
Lane Kiffin already had a prestigious and impressive resume before taking the Florida Atlantic job having stints at USC, Tennessee and in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders. However, Florida Atlantic was a kind of project for Kiffin and his time with the Owls transformed his approach, shifting from a resume-focused mindset to one centered on players.
"FAU was my first time being at not a major program, and those kids changed me," Kiffin said (per Clarion Ledger).
Similar to Dusty May, Lane Kiffin propelled the Owls football team to heights they had never seen before during his tenure. He led them to an impressive 11-3 record in his debut season, clinching the conference USA championship in 2017. His successful tenure saw another season with 10 wins and a conference title in 2019.
