Bucky McMillan Recognizes Challenge of Building Texas A&M’s 2025-26 Roster Through Transfer Portal

Bucky McMillan began his new coaching journey on Monday in College Station, Texas, marking the start of his tenure in the SEC.

A 41-year-old native of Birmingham who played college basketball at Birmingham-Southern, McMillan lacks a direct SEC background but hails from the heart of SEC territory. After a five-year stint as head coach at Samford, another school in his home state, McMillan is now officially part of the SEC. He’s taken over as the new head coach at Texas A&M, which recently finished a successful season under former head coach Buzz Williams.

The Aggies won 23 games last season, finishing 11-7 in the SEC, a historically strong conference, and placing fifth in the regular-season standings. Despite a second-round exit from the NCAA Tournament against Michigan, preventing a Sweet 16 appearance, the season set high expectations for the future, including for McMillan as the new coach.

At his introductory press conference on Monday, McMillan acknowledged the difficulty of assembling his roster for next season, especially considering how late it is in the transfer portal window.

“We won’t have the luxury of being as selective as we’d like. Building a roster this year will be different from any other year,” McMillan stated.

“Many players, especially the caliber needed for the SEC, are unavailable. In most years, this situation would be like taking over in August with just one player. That’s not an excuse… we’ll have to start working right away.”

McMillan is now facing the challenge of quickly building a competitive roster, with high expectations following the Aggies’ strong 2024-25 campaign. His introduction to the SEC will likely be a bumpy one, at least initially.