Kara: What was it like have having Dusty as a manager and on your staff when you were head coach?
Mike: “It was great having him. He was always a hard worker, you can tell that now for where he is now. One thing that stood out to me about him was that, and this may sound crazy, but when they played the manager games, the pick up games, he was always competitive. He wanted to win in the worst way. I took him on recruiting trip with me when he was a manager. We went down to see guys like Josh Smith, who was drafted first round and in the NBA. I took him to big events, AAU events in New Jersey, Orlando and he wanted to do it. He really wanted to go and wanted to do it. And so, I ended up hiring him at UAB after I got the UAB job. And, you know, I got him a job at USC first, but then he came and worked for me at UAB, and at LA Tech, and from my Tech to FAU man, now to Michigan, but he's always been a basketball mind. He's always been a competitor, and he's always he just wanted the knowledge.”
Kara: What kind of characteristics and traits did you see in him that you knew would make him a good head coach one day?
Mike: “The competitiveness in him. he was always asking questions all the time, you know. And he could read the room really well, you know, like I would, I took him some places, like I said, I took him with me on the road, and we got into different kinds of environments, and he was always really good in those environments.
Kara: What it’s been like to see him gain this type of national attention, when he went on the run with FAU, and now coaching a Big Ten team?
Mike: “It’s been like watching your son grow and have success. We played them the year they went to the Final Four, I was still in Detroit, and we played them. It’s always a little funny when you play against a coach that worked for you. He wanted to play so I knew when he wanted to play he had a good team. So we go down there, we played them, and he asked him to speak to his team this. This was like in November, early November, I spoke to his team because I was sharing with him that I thought they could be a final four for team, if it just stay within each other, don't listen to any outside people just kind of be like one heartbeat. And so I spoke to his team. They went to Final Four, and the game they want to go to the Final Four, the whole team Face Timed me when they got in the locker room. And it felt so good, you know, to get that FaceTime and so, but he’s always been, you know, a guy, person I knew that he would be successful because I made some phone calls for him to give him opportunities. And you never want to make phone calls for people that you have doubts about their work ethic and their character.
Kara: Moving into the IU Michigan game, what do you think the emotions will be like for him going back to Assembly Hall to coach there?
Mike: “It’s gonna be crazy. He’s gonna be really excited. It's a 1 o'clock game, so you know, he could get a chance to get there fast, but it's gonna seem like it's gonna take so long to get there. And I know that because I came back with a team to play in Assembly Hall. Just being a part of that family is something special. You know, you're at Indiana right now, and you're covering the sports, and that's gonna be a part of your life forever, forever. These are gonna be the best memories that you're gonna have forever, you know. And when you get a chance to come back to a place that you created so many memories, is always special, and it's probably gonna be funny, because he gonna be sitting on the other side as the head coach, but it's gonna be so much fun. You know, I would love to see the fans reaction. I would love to have a video of the response they get give to him, and once his name is called.
Kara: What’s one of your favorite memories of you two together?
Mike: “I can remember our walks we had around the football stadium, you know, when I was trying to stay in shape, and just having long conversations, you know, about basketball, about everything, and that those are the memories that I really cherish with him, and just the long drives to AAU events recruiting and the walks that we had, he's probably forgotten about those walks and those long drives. Definitely forget about the long drive, but his nickname was road warrior, because we could be on the road driving to places that I should have been flying to. We drove from Indiana to New Jersey, from New Jersey, Orlando, Orlando, back to Indiana. So, we should have been flying those places, but I wanted him to go, you know, and back then, you know, he had to drive instead of fly, and so we end up, you know, driving all this place. So, his nickname was road warrior.”
