Texas A&M Basketball Coaching Staff

Bucky McMillan

Head Coach

Three-time Southern Conference Coach of the Year Bucky McMillan was hired as the Texas A&M men's basketball head coach on April 5, 2025.

McMillan's Samford Bulldogs won three SoCon Championships – two regular season crowns and a tournament title – while compiling a 99-52 record, which includes 20-plus victories in each of the past four seasons. He earned SoCon Coach of the Year honors in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

The 41-year-old McMillan's fast-paced, attacking style of play made Samford one of the most exciting and entertaining teams in college basketball. In 2024-25, the Bulldogs ranked No. 13 nationally in scoring offense (82.9 points per game) while ranking in the top 10 in 3-pointers attempted and made. Defensively, Samford forced an average of 16.1 turnovers per game, which ranked No. 4 in the country.

McMillan orchestrated the best season in Samford program history in 2023-24 when the Bulldogs earned their first NCAA Tournament berth in more than 20 years. Samford compiled a school-record 29 wins and swept the SoCon regular season and tournament titles for the first time. In the NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs narrowly lost to Kansas, 93-89, in one of the most memorable games of the tournament. The 2023-24 season included a school record 17-game winning streak, and the team was a perfect 18-0 on its home court.

McMillan's path to the collegiate level came after experiencing unprecedented success at the high school level in the state of Alabama. As the head coach of Mountain Brook High School, located just outside of Birmingham, McMillan led the Spartans to five state championships in Alabama's highest classification and advanced to the championship game seven times in his 12 seasons at his alma mater. Named the National Coach of the Year in 2018 by the National High School Coaches Association, McMillan won 333 games at Mountain Brook while averaging nearly 28 wins per season.

Mitch Cole

Associate Head Coach

Coaching veteran Mitch Cole returned to Aggieland as the first addition to Bucky McMillan's initial coaching staff at Texas A&M.

Cole, who served on Billy Kennedy's Texas A&M staff for five seasons from 2011-16, had been McMillan's associate head coach at Samford since 2021. With Cole on the Samford staff, the Bulldogs posted four straight 20-win seasons, won three Southern Conference championships and advanced to the postseason twice.

Before his time at Samford, Cole was the head coach at Berry College from 2018-21. In his time at Berry, Cole posted a record of 51-17. In the 2020-21 season, Cole led the Vikings to both the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) regular season and tournament titles. For his efforts, Cole was named 2021 SAA Coach of the Year. The 2021 Vikings also broke onto the national scene, finishing the season ranked No. 11 in the final NCAA Division III poll.

Cole arrived at Berry after serving two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. On Kennedy's staff at Texas A&M, Cole served as a special assistant for three seasons before being elevated to assistant coach from 2014-16. In those two seasons, the Aggies posted a 49-21 record, including a school-record 28 victories in 2015-16 as the Maroon & White won the SEC regular season title and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

Kyle Keller

Assistant Coach

Men's basketball head coach Bucky McMillan announced the addition of former Stephen F. Austin head coach Kyle Keller to his initial coaching staff at Texas A&M on April 6, 2025.

In addition to coaching the Lumberjacks from 2016-25, Keller also served on Billy Kennedy's Texas A&M men's basketball staff from 2011-16. During his time in Aggieland, Texas A&M advanced to the postseason three times, including a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2015-16. The 2015-16 Aggies also won the SEC regular season crown and posted a school-record 28 victories.

Keller compiled an 171-95 record in eight seasons in Nacogdoches, while winning Southland Conference championships twice. His 2017-18 team won the SLC Tournament title to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament and his 2019-20 squad won the SLC regular season crown with a 19-1 record but saw its season end due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keller brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Aggie sidelines. Keller was an assistant coach for two Naismith Hall of Fame coaches: Bill Self at Kansas and Eddie Sutton at his alma mater Oklahoma State. He started his coaching career at Louisiana Tech and served as head coach at Tyler Junior College. Keller served as an assistant coach at Texas-San Antonio and Texas A&M.

TJ Cleveland

Assistant Coach

Men’s basketball head coach Bucky McMillan added veteran assistant coach TJ Cleveland to his initial coaching staff at Texas A&M.

Widely regarded as one of the top assistant coaches in the game with a focus on guard play, Cleveland has established a reputation as a strong recruiter in stints at UAB (2002-06), Missouri (2006-11), Arkansas (2011-19), St. John's (2019-23) and most recently Wichita State (2023-25).

At Wichita State, Cleveland played a key role in the team’s success as the Shockers advanced to the NIT in 2024-25. He helped coach Paul Mills win 34 games in his two first seasons at WSU, which was the third-most by a second-year head coach in school history. A pair of Shockers earned American Athletic Conference honors, which hadn’t happened in the same season since 2022.

Prior to his time at Wichita State, Cleveland served 21 seasons under four-time coach of the year Mike Anderson at four different schools – St. John’s, Arkansas, Missouri and UAB. He originally joined Anderson’s UAB staff in 2002 as video coordinator before being promoted to assistant coach in 2005.

Frank Haith

Asssistant Coach

Frank Haith, a 36-year coaching veteran with nearly two decades of head coaching experience, returns to Aggieland as an assistant coach for Texas A&M Basketball.

Haith, who has 18 years of experience as a Division I head coach, served two previous stints in Aggieland as an assistant coach for Tony Barone in 1992-95 and 1996-97. Haith comes to Texas A&M after two seasons at the University of Texas where he helped guide the Longhorns to 40 wins and to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths.

In his 18 seasons as a head coach, Haith posted a career record of 343-237 (.591). He served as head coach at Miami (Fla.) for seven seasons (2004-11), Missouri for three years (2011-14) and Tulsa for eight seasons (2014-22). Haith led all three programs to the NCAA Tournament and earned either conference or district Coach of the Year honors at each school. He guided 10 of those teams to postseason play, including four NCAA Tournament appearances.

Haith was named the National Coach of the Year by The Associated Press and United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) in 2012 while at Missouri. He also was a National Coach of the Year finalist in 2005 while at Miami.

Warren Fitzpatrick

Director of Operations, Assistant General Manager

Warren Fitzpatrick enters his first season as the Texas A&M men’s basketball team’s Director of Operations and Assistant General Manager in 2025-26.

In his role, Fitzpatrick orchestrates all phases of the daily operations of the Aggie basketball team, including monitoring the program’s budget, donor relations, team travel, scholarships, housing, camps and clinics and a myriad of other administrative duties.

Fitzpatrick came to Texas A&M from Samford where he served a similar role for Bucky McMillan and the Bulldog men’s basketball team for the past three seasons. Fitzpatrick was named Samford’s Director of Operations in 2022 and elevated to Chief of Staff in 2024. In addition to his operational duties, Fitzpatrick supervised the team’s fundraising and donor relationships, played a key role in the development of the Bucky McMillan Basketball Camps and contributed to opposing team scouting.

He began his career as a graduate assistant on McMillan’s staff in 2021 while pursuing his Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration on sports business.

Darby Rich

Strength & Conditioning Coach

Darby Rich returns to Aggieland to join Bucky McMillan's inaugural staff as strength and conditioning coach.

Rich previously served as the Aggie basketball team's strength and conditioning coach for eight seasons from 2011-19 under then-head coach Billy Kennedy. Rich has 22 years of sports performance coaching experience and 28 overall years of service in collegiate athletics. During his coaching career, he has helped lead 11 teams to the NCAA Tournament and developed 20 NBA players.

Most recently, Rich served in a similar role for the University of Texas men's basketball program, helping the Longhorns to a 19-16 record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament First Four. Additionally, Rich's coaching history includes collegiate stops at Memphis (2019-21, 2023-24), Texas Tech (2021-23), Sam Houston State (1998-2001, 2009-10), Oklahoma (2004-09) and Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College and an internship at the professional level under the tutelage of legendary strength coach Joe Jurazsek with the Dallas Cowboys (2001-02).

During his previous stint at Texas A&M, Rich helped develop six NBA players including Robert Williams, Khris Middleton, Danuel House, Alex Caruso, Tyler Davis and Jalen Jones and nine all-conference individuals. The Aggies tallied a total of 151 victories (18.9 per season) during Rich's eight seasons in College Station, won the 2016 Southeastern Conference regular-season title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 in both 2016 and 2018.

Neb Exantus

Director of Player Development and Personnel

Neb Exantus is in his first season as Texas A&M's Director of Player Development and Personnel.

Known for his work ethic and ability to develop talent, Exantus comes to Aggieland after four seasons as an assistant coach on Bucky McMillan's staff at Samford. In his four seasons as an assistant coach, the Bulldogs won three Southern Conference Championships – two regular season crowns and a tournament title – while compiling a 99-52 record, which includes 20-plus victories every season.

He joined McMillan's staff as a graduate assistant in 2020 after a season at his alma mater, Southern New Hampshire University, where he helped develop a pair of all-conference players for the Division II Penmen.

Before his time at Samford, Exantus served as a coach at the nationally-ranked West Oaks Academy in Orlando, Florida. His passion for developing players extended beyond the high school scene, as he worked with prominent AAU programs, including Showtime Ballers and Team Breakdown, gaining further experience coaching elite-level talent and future NBA Players.

Corey Felder

Video Coordinator

Corey Felder has joined head coach Bucky McMillan's inaugural staff at Texas A&M and will serve as the Aggies' video coordinator.

Felder comes to Aggieland after two seasons with the DePaul men's basketball team under head coaches Tony Stubblefield (2023-24) and Chris Holtmann (2024-25). The Closter, N.J. native handled a variety of duties for the Blue Demons, including player development programs and workouts, video and scouting analysis and transfer portal data management. He also supervised DePaul's team of student managers.

Prior to his time at DePaul, Felder served as the head student manager for Ohio State men's basketball under Holtmann where he assisted in a variety of areas including film, travel needs and daily practice. As the head manager, he oversaw a 15-person manager staff.

As an undergraduate at Ohio State, Felder spent two summers serving as an intern to the V.P. of Basketball Operations at the New York Knicks where he helped oversee daily operations, the pre-draft process and other management duties.