Michael A. McCann

Michael McCann is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at UNH Law. Dean McCann is responsible for overseeing the law school’s program of legal education. His specific duties include day-to-day management of UNH Law’s degree programs with an emphasis on implementation and analysis of strategic initiatives to achieve institutional excellence. Dean McCann also supervises senior staff offices, including the registrar and career services, and he manages budgets, contracts and international programing.

Dean McCann is the Founding Director of the UNH Law Sports and Entertainment Law Institute (SELI). SELI offers hands-on training and experiential opportunities in this cutting-edge area of law. Dean McCann has held several other leadership posts at the University including Chair of the UNH Law Faculty Appointments Committee and Co-Chair of the UNH Law Dean Search and Selection Committee. Graduating students in UNH Law’s Class of 2015 selected McCann to deliver the faculty portion of their commencement address.

Dean McCann is one of the nation’s leading experts in sports law. He is Sports Illustrated’s Legal Analyst, an Investigative Writer for Sports Illustrated and the on-air Legal Analyst for NBA TV. McCann has authored more than 700 legal columns and articles for SI and is a key member of SI’s investigative team. He has covered the Boston Marathon bombings, Deflategate, the murder trials of Aaron Hernandez, sexual misconduct allegations against players, owners and team executives, the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal, the ouster of Donald Sterling from the NBA Colin Kaepernick’s collusion grievance against the NFL, the FBI’s investigation into college basketball corruption, amateurism litigation against the NCAA, concussion class actions, the legality of sports betting and numerous other legal controversies .

McCann was the first member of the media to interview Lance Armstrong after Armstrong’s interview with Oprah Winfrey. He interviewed Armstrong at his home in Austin, Texas and authored "My Dance With Lance" (Sports Illustrated, March 11, 2013 issue, pages 14-15).

As a journalist, McCann has also broken several national news stories. Those stories include that relevant FBI wiretaps did not implicate University of Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller in the college hoops scandal, that attorneys for Colin Kaepernick deposed New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, that University of Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino hired his mistress over 150 more qualified candidates, that Donald Sterling informed the NBA of his refusal to comply with the NBA’s sanction and that Sterling hired a legal team with a threat to sue the NBA, and that the Los Angeles Angels were set to trade troubled outfielder Josh Hamilton.

McCann is also a best-selling author and an accomplished scholar. McCann and former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon co-authored “Court Justice: The Inside Story of My Battle Against the NCAA” (Diversion Books, 2018). The book — which was named by The Christian Science Monitor as the No. 1 Sports Book in Spring 2018 and has been a best-selling book in several Amazon categories — tells the story of O’Bannon’s life in basketball and his historic court case against the NCAA. McCann is also the Editor and co-author of "The Oxford Handbook of American Sports Law" (Oxford University Press, 2017). The book is intended for law students, graduate students, college students and attorneys interested in the study of American sports law. In addition, McCann has authored more than 20 law review articles, with placements in the Yale Law Journal, Wisconsin Law Review, and Boston College Law Review, among other prominent law reviews. One notable law review article is “American Needle v. NFL: An Opportunity to Reshape Sports Law", 119 YALE L.J. 726 (2010).

McCann is also an established expert in the laws governing journalism, media and communications. Along with Jon Hanson, the Alfred Smart Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, McCa