FAU's Final Four Run Is Even More Ridiculous After Dusty May Reportedly Tried To Back Out Of The Job, Thinking He Committed Career Suicide

[CBS] - It's March 2018. May had signed FAU's contract that made him a first-time head coach just a few hours earlier. 

And here he was, bawling in a hotel room, trying to figure out a way to back out of the deal.

"I walk in the room and I started crying and said, 'I just committed career suicide. I'm not good enough. I can't do this,'" May told CBS Sports. 

May admits to having an impulsive personality. He wanted the job, then he didn't want the job. He signed the contract before ever seeing FAU's basketball facilities. Once he did, panic set in.

Though the school has made some facility upgrades in the years since (and will now be making massive improvements thanks to this blessed Final Four run), the state of the place in 2018 was so piteous, the staff actually prided themselves on signing 10 players in their first year without ever allowing one recruit to see the locker room. They'd show recruits the football facilities, which at that point were starting to be built under then-coach Lane Kiffin. 

This piece by Matt Norlander shows just how ridiculous the run to the Final Four is for FAU. Not just because they play in C-USA. Not just because they are a 9-seed. But the fact that Dusty May tried to back out of the job because the facilities were that pathetic. I mean, it's not shocking. This is the problem that most mid-majors suffer when trying to build a program. 

Now, that'll all go away here soon as Norlander points out, with the Final Four run. But the staff couldn't even show recruits the locker room. It was that bad. They had to point to football and Lane Kiffin being like hey, this guy has the nice stuff. Look over here. Plus we're in Boca Raton and the beach is right here. Decent selling points for sure. 

Good thing Dusty stayed though! The man is going to get to pick his next job. Every single job is going to have him on the shortlist and he can pick and choose where he wants to go. One of the players from that first recruiting class is a major part as to why FAU is here now too. Michael Forrest joined the Owls in 2018-19, you know, back when the facilities were shit. He went 4-for-4 from the line to help seal the win over Kansas State. He had 11 points against Tennessee. He embraced coming off the bench and letting this group of sophomores take the lead. 

I know it's not as shocking as George Mason, VCU or Loyola making the Final Four as an 11-seed. But FAU was a nothing program. They didn't have an NCAA Tournament win. They had a coach try to leave when he saw the facilities. Now they are in the Final Four. This is why the NCAA Tournament is the best postseason event. You can sit here and predict that the top talent will win out late. Then FAU keeps running this 4-out offense and hitting big shots. 

Dude just gets it. One hell of a coach.