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Why I Don’t Like Bucky McMillan
Plain and simple, the Samford head men’s basketball coach didn’t pay his dues
ETSU head men’s basketball coach Brooks Savage has paid his dues.
Samford head men’s basketball coach Brooks Savage is paid for.
I’ve repeated the above two sentences numerous times on my You Tube channel and X account over the last year.
And it stems from the fact Savage has become a Division I head basketball coach by working his way up the ladder, starting as a team manager of the Tennessee basketball program under Buzz Peterson a generation ago, working his way up to graduate assistant under Bruce Pearl, then taking on assistant coaching jobs at mid-major Division I programs, including with Steve Forbes at ETSU and later Wake Forest, before being asked to return to guide the Bucs out of ruin.
And doing a fairly decent job of it. ETSU isn’t the Southern Conference power they once were, but after leading the Bucs to the conference tournament final in his initial season and likely guiding the Bucs to their first winning season against Division I competition since 2020 in his second it’s hard to argue there isn’t slow but steady improvement.
McMillan, meanwhile, didn’t. He was a high school coach at a turnkey school in the Birmingham suburbs that won the state championship the year after he left.
Pushed by prominent booster Gary Cooney, after a meeting with Samford athletic director Marvin Newton on basketball philosophy McMillan was hired as head coach.
So basically, McMillan got his job because he knew someone.
I have no problem with a high school coach wanting to advance. Bobby Knight, among many others, started as a high school coach.
But they also climbed the ladder, first serving as a college assistant before being promoted to the top spot.
And while it’s hard to argue with Samford’s NCAA Tournament berth last season, the school’s first in 24 years, or the Bulldogs’ first place standing in the Southern Conference, it leads one to wonder . . .
