It has been a day of big news for Michigan, and it just keeps rolling. After the news of Dusty May leaving Michigan for the head coaching job with the Dallas Mavericks, the biggest question surrounding the Wolverines is who his replacement will be.
Well, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel has now answered that question, at least for the time being. ESPN's Pete Thamel, Jeff Borzello, and Adam Schefter are all reporting that Michigan is working to hire assistant coach Mike Boynton as the interim head coach for the Wolverines.
Sources: Michigan is working toward hiring Mike Boynton Jr. as interim coach, per me and @jeffborzello and @AdamSchefter. pic.twitter.com/vZquplDDgB
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) June 22, 2026
By adding the word 'interim' in there, it subtly reveals what Warde is doing with this hire. This is looking more like a band-aid situation for Michigan, with there not being too many choices for a long-term hire right now. It feels like this is a situation of promoting a familiar coach to keep players in the building and hitting the coaching carousel hard next offseason when there will undoubtedly be more choices.
Now that Michigan reportedly has a new coach, where does that leave the Wolverines?
With Michigan working to hire Boynton as the interim head coach, that sets in motion a lot of things in Ann Arbor. For the next five days, every player signed to play for the Wolverines next season will meet with the coaching staff, and then a 15-day Transfer Portal window will open, allowing players to choose to either stay or go.
This is a new rule change; it used to be a 30-day window, but has now been shortened to 15 days after a head coaching change. So, Michigan will have a better idea of what the roster will look like in the next 20 days, but even if players do enter the portal, they could still return to Michigan in the end.
The hiring of Boynton to the head coaching role, even if it is in an interim fashion, is a smart play on Manuel's part. While Michigan could have swung for the fences with a hire of someone like Billy Donovan, who was rumored to be the top candidate for the UNC job and has since been relieved of his duties as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, keeping a familiar face as the head man could entice players to stick around for the next season.
Depending on how Boynton does this next season, Manuel could choose to remove the interim title and keep giving him a full head coaching contract, especially if the coaching market isn't as good next season. Keeping this roster together as much as possible is key right now, as May did a great job building it this offseason.
Not to mention that Michigan has a pretty grueling non-conference schedule next season, so having the best roster possible will help the Wolverines in the long run. While Manuel hasn't made a ton of great decisions in the past, this one could save Michigan just hours after the ground shifted with the May news.
Add us as a preferred source on Google