Samford head coach Bucky McMillan has emerged as one of the brightest young coaches in college basketball just six years after leading
Mountain Brook (Birmingham) to its third consecutive state championship in Alabama's largest classification.
The 40-year old McMillan has drawn attention for turning the Samford University program around with "Bucky Ball" – his up-tempo and aggressive style of play.
After the Bulldogs struggled to a 10-23 record in 2019-20, McMillan took over prior to the 2020-21 campaign but went just 6-13 and 2-9 in Southern Conference play. In his second year, Samford improved to 21-11 overall and tied for third with a conference record of 10-8.
Bucky McMillan and Mountain Brook were honored as part of the MaxPreps Tour of Champions following the 2017-18 season.
Last season, he led Samford to a share of the conference title and was named Southern Conference Coach of the Year after leading his team to a record of 21-11 and 15-3 in conference play.
McMillan and the Bulldogs have dialed it up another notch this season with a 29-5 record and a 15-3 record in conference play. He guided the school to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000 and third overall.
The Big Dance-bound coach took over at Mountain Brook when he was 24 years old and led the program for a dozen years, compiling a 333-74 record with five state championships.
Under McMillan's leadership, Mountain Brook became the first team in state history to win three consecutive large school titles in 2018-19. The Spartans were the only team to knock off eventual national champion IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) and finished the season ranked No. 5 in the MaxPreps Top 25.
During his tenure, McMillan helped develop two-time Alabama Mr. Basketball winner Trendon Watson, who is averaging 5.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per contest for the Brooklyn Nets this season.
Although an upset over a short-handed No. 4 seed Kansas on Thursday night could make McMillan a hot commodity on the coaching market, Samford University is located less than 10 miles from Mountain Brook High School and it may be tough to entice him from the area he was born and raised.
