Jay Bilas reacts to Texas A&M's hire of Bucky McMillan, highlights challenge of entering SEC

Texas A&M found their replacement for Buzz Williams on Friday. The Aggies decided to hire Samford‘s Bucky McMillan as their next head coach.

McMillan will reportedly be inking a five-year deal to lead College Station’s men’s basketball program. He’s been Samford’s head coach for the past five seasons, amassing a 99-52 overall record during his tenure.

After the news broke, Jay Bilas of ESPN reacted to the hire. He compared McMillan’s journey to Nate Oats of Alabama, believing the risk could be worth the reward for Texas A&M.

“I’m not surprised, because of what Pete Thamel said. You know, sort of the nature of Buzz Williams, every five or six years, there’s been a change in his college coaching career. But when you think about what Nate Oats, where he was 10, 12, years ago. He was a head coach in Detroit at Romulus High School. Then he goes to Buffalo as an assistant to Bobby Hurley, takes over the head coaching job. Now, he’s killing it at Alabama. One of the most respected coaches in the game. When you’re the real deal, it doesn’t take long for people to figure it out,” Bilas stated, likening McMillan to Oats.

“I think Bucky McMillan is an outstanding basketball coach. It’s going to be a challenge going into that SEC and doing extraordinarily well, but he’s certainly got the resources to Texas A&M to do it.”

All told, Bilas’ commentary on McMillan should provide some hope for Aggies fans. They’re hoping to continue the success they’ve enjoyed over the past couple of seasons, and take it to a new level under McMillan

The aforementioned new leader of Texas A&M had his best season with Samford during the 2023-24 campaign, when he led the Bulldogs to a 29-6 record. That included amassing a 15-3 mark in conference play, a Southern Conference regular-season title, a conference tournament championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

McMillan also guided Samford to a SoCon regular-season championship in the previous season. For his efforts, McMillan won the Southern Conference Coach of the Year Award three consecutive seasons (2022-24).

Samford posted a 22-11 overall record and a 12-6 mark in conference play this season. They didn’t make the NCAA Tournament but were invited to the NIT, where they ultimately fell in the first round to George Mason.

McMillan’s teams are known for their fast-pace. McMillan’s entertaining style of play has affectionately come to be known as “Bucky Ball.” Samford averaged 82.9 points per game this season, the 14th-most in the country.

Additionally, McMillan coaches an equally rapid pace on defense, constantly pressing his opponents for 94 feet. In turn, the Bulldogs ranked in the Top 20 in the country for opponent turnover percentage the past two seasons.

Samford is the only head coaching job McMillan has held at the collegiate level. Before leading the Bulldogs, McMillan was the head coach at Mountain Brook High School in Alabama from 2008-20.

Time will tell if it works out for Bucky McMillan at Texas A&M. The morale is high for the Aggies at the moment, and if it works out how Jay Bilas is thinking, perhaps Buzz Williams decided to leave their program will be the best thing that ever happened to them.

— On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this article.