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Bucky McMillan acknowledges challenge of building Texas A&M’s 2025-26 roster out of transfer portal
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Bucky McMillan began his new coaching life on Monday in College Station, Texas, and he also began his new life in the SEC.
The 41-year-old was born in Birmingham and played his college ball at Birmingham-Southern, so while there is no SEC past on his portfolio, McMillan comes from the heart of SEC country. Now, after a 5-year run in his first collegiate head coaching job at Samford — another pit stop in his home state — McMillan is officially an SEC guy. Because he’s the new head coach at Texas A&M, which just happens to be coming off a very successful season under now-departed head coach Buzz Williams.
The Aggies won 23 games this past season and went 11-7 in a historically good SEC, finishing fifth in the regular-season standings. The Aggies fell to Michigan in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, failing to get to the Sweet 16, but it set a high bar for the next season and the next coach, and that coach is McMillan.
During Monday’s introductory press conference, the challenge hit home with McMillan, who specifically acknowledged how daunting it will be to try to fill out his roster for next season because it’s so late in the transfer portal window.
“We won’t be able to be as selective as we would like to be. Building a roster this year will be unlike any other year,” admitted McMillan.
“A lot of players are not available, particularly the level of player that we would need in the SEC. This, in most years, would be like taking over in August and having one player. That’s not an excuse. … We’re going to have to get to work immediately.”
McMillan will be playing a game of chase now going forward, and he’s got those grand expectations to follow now after the Aggies’ strong 2024-25 season. For McMillan, his welcome to the SEC after all these years will be a bit of a rocky one, at least to start with.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
