Alabama Coach Has High Hopes for Texas A&M's Bucky McMillan

Already, one of the premier coaches in the SEC is taking notice. When speaking at the Regions Traditions Pro-Am golf tournament, Alabama's Nate Oats shared that he will be watching McMillan's career with great interest.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Oats said, per On3. “I got here, I talked to Bucky, and I talked to him even about an assistant role. Then I told him, like, ‘Look, man, you need to get to wherever you’re going to get as an assistant,’ and fortunate for him, he’s able to jump right from high school head coach. ‘Just do it on your own accord, how good as you are, and that’ll be better.’ And he did.”

Oats has a somewhat similar background to McMillan. The 50-year-old's first collegiate head coaching role came at Buffalo, where he led the Bulls to the NCAA Tournament three times in four seasons. Now, he's one of the premier coaches in the country after leading the Crimson Tide to five straight tournament appearances, including a Final Four in 2024 and an Elite Eight in 2025.

“I mean, he got to Samford, hit it out of the park," Oats said. "You know, me and him have talked a lot. Shoot, I’ve talked to him even a few times since he’s got to A&M. He says that the success I’ve had here, I think, helped him a little bit with just high school coaches can do it,” Oats said. “And I think it’s great for all the really good high school coaches around. I mean, he went right from high school to Samford. He hit it out of the park, and now he’s in our league.”

It will take some time for McMillan to establish himself in the SEC, especially when he's basically had to build the roster from scratch this offseason. If he's able to translate his game from a mid-major conference to a power conference, though, he might just have a chance to become a premier coach like Oats is.