Even after three straight trips to the NCAA Tournament and some great work in a strong SEC, Texas A&M was thrown a major curveball last week when Buzz Williams left College Station to take the head coaching gig at Maryland. Thrown into their first coaching hunt in six years, the Aggies didn’t panic and have landed on Bucky McMillan to take over their program.
At initial glance, this will be quite the culture change for McMillan, who comes to town after spending his entire basketball career in the state of Alabama. Born in Birmingham, he played at Birmingham-Southern back when that school existed in D1 athletics, graduating in 2006. After that he got into coaching at the high school level and made quite a killing there.
McMillan was first an assistant at Mountain Brook High School but would later spend twelve years as the school’s head coach. During that time he became one of the nation’s most revered high school coaches, winning several state titles and even earning national recognition for his work.
His first foray into college basketball came when Samford hired him back in 2020. He joined the Bulldogs during the brunt of the pandemic and his team struggle in their first season, with just six wins in the pandemic-altered season. After that it was a different story, as Samford would win at least 21 games in each of the next four seasons, including a trip to the Big Dance in 2024.
McMillan took the Bulldogs to four straight Top 3 finishes in a competitive SoCon and becomes the latest coach from that conference to make the jump to power conference basketball. In the last decade alone the league has produced names like Darian DeVries, Steve Forbes, Will Wade, and Mike Young. This doesn’t guarantee success for the Aggies ahead but perhaps shows that McMillan can handle the major jump to the SEC.
It’s quite the risk all things considered, with the Aggies taking a flyer on one of the up and coming coaches, whose brand of “Bucky ball” has turned Samford into a premier mid-major after years of disappointment. He jumps to Texas A&M where he’ll have significant more resources and support around him, though the pressure will be much greater. Does McMillan have what it takes to succeed right away in the SEC?