Every Samford student, employee and fan will remember where they were Friday April 4, 2025, when news broke that beloved men’s basketball coach, Bucky McMillan was leaving Samford to be the head coach of Texas A&M.
McMillan completely revived the Samford men’s basketball program in his five years. He had four 20+ win seasons, two SoCon regular season championships, two SoCon coach of the year awards, one SoCon tournament championship and brought Samford back to March Madness for the first time since 2000.
“I want to thank Bucky for all he has given to Samford University and the men’s basketball program. The past five years have been a special period in our program’s history. We wish Bucky the best in his new endeavor,” Director of Samford athletics Martin Newton said in a statement released on the Samford Instagram the Saturday after the news broke.
McMillan wasted no time getting to College Station. On Monday, April 7, 2025, Texas A&M hosted a welcoming press conference for McMillan. He opened the meeting with a big promise.
“I do want y’all to know that in time we’re going to have a championship program here.” McMillan said.
In the press conference McMillan talked about his love of Birmingham, the task of building a roster and why he took the job.
“Martin Newton is a guy that I love to death and he didn’t want to lose me for sure but he said ‘If you can get [Texas A&M] you gotta go. That can be one of the best places to coach in all of college basketball,’” said McMillan.
Texas A&M has already started using the phrase “Bucky Ball” to promote their upcoming season.
McMillan reached out to his players to tell them before the news broke.
“I had mixed emotions about feeling joyful for him, but a little bit confused on what I’m about to do next.” said Freshman Zion Wilburn.
Once news of McMillan leaving broke, players ran to the transfer portal. Wilburn and redshirt Freshman Caleb Harrison are the only players returning.
“At the end of the day it’s a part of the game. You have to go through this especially nowadays with how college basketball operates.” said Wilburn.
On Wednesday April 9, 2025, Samford named Lipscomb head coach, Lennie Acuff as the new Samford head coach.
Acuff has had a lot of success at Lipscomb. He coached his team to March Madness this year and was named the ASun coach of the year earlier this year.
“I have no interest in replacing Bucky. Bucky is someone I respect greatly, he’s a good friend. That’s not my job, my job is to keep Samford Basketball at the top of the Southern Conference. That is what my job is.” Acuff said on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.
Acuff has made quite the name for himself and has potential to keep the success that Samford has gotten used to.
“He’s gonna be really good for Samford. He’s been doing this for a long time and knows how the game works.” Said Wilburn.
Acuff has already made an effort to speak with the returning players and is a reason for why they are returning.
“I got to have a talk with Coach Acuff and he just spoke really highly of me and he really seemed to believe in me. We had a good conversation that made me feel confident about staying at Samford and being able to trust his ability to coach and lead players to success.” said Wilburn.
The day that Acuff was announced as head coach, McMillan was on The Paul Finebaum Show.
“I’ll tell you what, Samford just hired a new coach today. Coach Acuff from Lipscomb, who is a great friend of mine and he’s going to keep that program rolling there.” McMillan said on the Paul Finebaum show.
Sorry to see Coach Bucky leave Samford, but I know he’ll so great things at Texas A &M! Great article!