Texas A&M head basketball coach Bucky McMillan joins TexAgs Live

Since his arrival in College Station, new Texas A&M head basketball coach Bucky McMillan has been busy. On Tuesday, McMillan stopped by the TexAgs Live studio to discuss the opportunity to be in Aggieland, his vision for the program and much more.

Key notes from Bucky McMillan interview

• It has been pretty tough. Getting out here, getting hired, no sleep, a press conference... One thing to another. It has been great. It has been such great support from the people out here, but it's time to get to work to find a roster. We've got one player on that roster right now, so today is going to be full-steam ahead in recruiting to get some players to be competitive next year.
   
• We're at a competitive disadvantage based on the timing, but it's nobody's fault. It is what it is, but I know that everyone who has been successful sees the long-term opportunity. Our long-term opportunity here is tremendous. It's strange because of the nature of the transfer portal and the nature of the House v. NCAA settlement. Everyone was trying to get signed before April 7, which was yesterday. This is like taking a job in August with one player on the roster, but we're going to make up ground.
   
• This opportunity was a no-brainer. We're going to fight to piece together a roster, but in a year or two, there is no reason we can't be at the top of this league. If you're in the NCAA Tournament, so many in this league are in the NCAA Tournament. If you do that, you have your own path forward to make a deep run.
   
• I grew up in SEC country. We were talking football just a second ago. I'm from Alabama. I watch all the games. Football, basketball and baseball. I watch it all. The SEC was always the league to be in for football. Now, it's the league to be in for basketball. We obviously know what it is in baseball. Last night, an SEC team was playing for the national championship. You saw how many were in the Final Four and how many advanced to the Sweet 16. Stylistically, everybody understands the game is meant to be played with as many possessions as possible and up-tempo. In the SEC, fans rally around a product that wins and is entertaining. Our job is to do both, and that's why we're here.
   
• This will relate to the 12th Man: I was in Bryant-Denny Stadium when Johnny Manziel rolled up in there and gave it to Alabama. They attacked. They were on the road, but it didn't matter. They were fearless. That stuck with me. That's Texas A&M. People in Alabama after that game, when they thought of A&M, they thought of a fearless university with gunslingers. Our basketball program will be that style. Win, lose or draw. We're going to go hard, be aggressive and play with confidence. People are going to be proud of how hard we attack.
   
• When I grew up playing basketball in high school, they thought you had to play slow-down basketball in the 30s. I thought then that if I ever coached, we were going to let it rip. I was young when I started coaching, around 17, in AAU and into JV and then varsity. That's what we were doing. In college, I played for a great guy that was playing up-tempo. Life is short, so I don't want to live in fear. We're going to attack, and that's the best way to win.
   
• The Birmingham-Southern team that beat A&M in 2000 was coached by a guy named Duane Reboul. He coached me in college. That game was before I got there. Coach Reboul was on my staff last year, and he is like a father figure to me. Mitch Cole was on that staff, so think about how this has come full circle. Cole is back out there. I was texting with Reboul this morning and told him there were a lot of good spots out here. It's the same system and a lot of the same people.
   
• That press, we're going to play that the whole game. That's just what we do. Sometimes, you have to read how the other team plays and know when to turn it on and off. When you play attacking basketball, you also have to play with discipline. Hurry-up, no-huddle coming into the SEC took everyone off guard, but there was a lot of discipline to it.
   
• With the rules now, it's not like it used to be where you couldn't practice until Oct. 15. Now, you have a certain amount of hours where you can play pick-up and have the team together for an allotted amount of hours. We play how we play all the time to get them used to playing how we're going to play. Our conditioning is difficult, but that's more for the mental aspect than anything. You know you can get through that adversity. In terms of getting our guys in basketball shape, we never have conditioning once the season begins because that's just how we practice.
   
• I would say this to the people out here that I'll get to know: Sometimes coaches feel like they cure cancer or something, but we're just regular guys. Six years ago, I was the bus driver.
   
• I'm so appreciative to be here, and I'm never going to change to thinking I'm more important. We're going to have a great relationship here because you've been here longer and have more ownership in this thing than me. We just need to rally together. I'm glad I get to be a part of y'all's program, not the other way around. With everybody, we're going to have so much fun. This is the start of the program, but it's fun. When we're winning championships, we're going to remember these moments and how it all started.