Basketball roster 20/21

[SU DOG]

The Alabama Baptist interviews Coach Bucky McMillan. Audio interview:


http://tabnews.libsyn.com/tab-talks-sam ... y-mcmillan

[samDOT19]

The problem is not with the fan base. This isn't a marriage. Loyalty will only go so far until the fans begin to become jaded and pessimistic. This didn't happen overnight. Years of this kinda crap has consequences. If the basketball program wants optimism, they need to give the loyal fans here something tangible to be excited about. Naivety left the building some time ago.

Naivety? C'mon man.. I'm not naive, but I don't feel this sense of entitlement that seems to have "permeated" into this message board with some of y'all.. We suck. Pretty much always have. If you're looking for something tangible, then surely you can give this guy a few more years. Hell, you've been waiting for 20 years.. Consequences..? What, are we going to lose more basketball games..? Are we going to finish 6th in the league instead of 5th..?

This hire excites me. It's off the beaten path. Bucky is a young guy, energetic, creative, innovative, and a proven winner (albeit at the high school level) with support and connections in the area. If you pay attention to sports in this state at all then just like me you scratch your head and try to answer the eighth wonder of the world: how in the world is Mtn. Brook winning 7A state championships in basketball? And no, he didn't always have Trendon Watford. Mountain Brook was already established by the time he rolled onto campus.

We're talking about Samford.. We're not going to get an Andy Kennedy. And don't fault Bucky for all the social media garbage.. find me one institutional social media account without its flaws. @samfordsports certainly has many, including the fact that it is the sole channel for information about samford athletics..

[Smurf]

At some point if the program doesn't live up to the university's overall mission of excellence, then it is unreasonable to expect folks not to become jaded and to look to invest their valuable time and money elsewhere. You may call that entitlement. I call it upholding a value that the university as a whole should hold dear, even in athletics, and that is success. We invest time, money, and emotional energy and yet the university seems to brush away the loyal folks who have endured this dog squeeze for years. Go back and read some of 77SU's recent comments from about six weeks ago or so. He isn't some fly by night fan who just cruised into SU and quickly became disenchanted. His well founded disappointment and admitted divesting in the athletic department is a result of real failures by the athletic department and it's king.

Also, go back and re-read my comments about supporting McMillan. I was not in favor of the hire, and voiced that opinion clearly, but I also clearly stated that the guy deserved a fair shot at succeeding and that previous failures by B.S. and his staff should in no way be a mark against McMillan; he deserves a clean slate. Don't conflate the disappointment of the overall administration of the basketball program by the masses here, and their subsequent cynicism, with a lack of desire for McMillan to succeed. None of these folks here want to see Bucky fail at SU. I also don't think Bucky has been maligned here for anything he has posted on social media. There was that Hire Bucky foolishness on Twitter, but I certainly doubt Bucky was involved in that.

Lastly, don't slight the perspective of folks, critical as they may be, who have been intimately involved in not just this message board, but deeply involved in supporting the athletic department for, in some cases 40-50 years. Their perspective carries weight and is not merely just records on a web page. Their perspective is grounded in watching a lot of losses and yes, even some wins along the way, one game at a time.

[77SU]

This hire excites me. It's off the beaten path. Bucky is a young guy, energetic, creative, innovative, and a proven winner (albeit at the high school level) with support and connections in the area. If you pay attention to sports in this state at all then just like me you scratch your head and try to answer the eighth wonder of the world: how in the world is Mtn. Brook winning 7A state championships in basketball? And no, he didn't always have Trendon Watford. Mountain Brook was already established by the time he rolled onto campus.

We're talking about Samford.. We're not going to get an Andy Kennedy. And don't fault Bucky for all the social media garbage.. find me one institutional social media account without its flaws. @samfordsports certainly has many, including the fact that it is the sole channel for information about samford athletics..

This is basically how I flip back and forth. Maybe the guy can coach at the D1 level and will be quite successful in the, hopefully, near-future. If he is wildly successful and the backers have their way, then maybe he will get to move a little further west on I-20. What has caused my lack of support, is the overdose of sugar-coating in the media hype. If there has to be all this sweetness, what are they trying to hide? With regard to the interview with TAB, which is probably the first time that TAB has interviewed an incoming coach at SU, how many times do you have to say you love Jesus? At a certain point, it becomes meaningless. I'm sorry, but we were told the second coming was 8 years ago and we are still not in the promised land. Between the orchestrated efforts of @samfordsports and @Wm_Galloway, with some input from @SamfordScoop, this has all the trappings of a combination of a used car salesman and the traveling snake-oil purveyor of fine goods. Now the mantra is "Respect is earned not given." Our new HC is starting all over to earn respect of the fans that have been around since we sat on wooden bleachers in Seibert Stadium, before the guy was even born, much less dribbled a basketball. No, we are not giving him anything but a chance to earn our respect. He has a contract; he is the coach; we have to live with the decision made by others.

p.s. I just read Smurf's comments since I took so long typing and biting my tongue along the way.

[Cujo]

The only entitlement on this board is that of having an opinion. Rarely do we come to a consensus unless it is obvious. Disagreement often occurs just for the sake of having something to talk about. But, we have arrived on one consensus: The architects of Samford basketball forgot to install a foundation before they started building.

Regarding Bucky Ball, here is my problem with it. The guy hasn't even coached a college game. He hasn't had a chance to do anything. In an effort to gin up excitement and sell tickets at inflated prices, someone came up with an idea that sets expectations up for this poor guy to fail. Let him have some success before you start selling "Bucky Ball". Let him find his style at this level before you slap his name on a brand of basketball that is ethereal at this point. But, if you are dumb enough to try to sell your tickets at inflated prices around the personality of your 35 year old coach . . . you might be forgetting about that foundation thing again*. I don't have a problem with Bucky. I hope he succeeds. I think Bucky Ball t-shirts are a indicator, however, that the past predicts the future. Insanity is letting the same people do the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

*Witness! Witness the beginning of the end of Bennie Seltzer's head coaching career and a decade of basketball futility at Samford . . . and we were the only school in the history of the world to hire him as its head coach. But, it was a great t-shirt and that video introduction . . . well, that was exciting too.

[samDOT19]

Cujo, I'm with you. I have a lot of disdain for the state of the basketball program. But I credit the AD for making this hire. He's supposed to be a basketball guy, and he's 0 for 2. No one knows that better than he does. So what does he do for the third hire? He sets his ego aside and hires an up and comer, who, I will admit, could be a bust.. But, I believe that this was the right hire. I don't think there are many names out there that Samford could have reasonably gone after who would have been better for the job. Again.. it's Samford.

I think it's a little bit petty to hone in on the fact that the social media guys have created a catchy "brand" with Bucky Ball.. Those guys are just doing their jobs, and Bucky and AD both probably had little to do with it. I get it.. it speaks more to the lack of foundation and to the puffing, but these are the times we live in. Y'all remember the Lane Train video Ole Miss brought out?

As far as season tickets go.. Better get your floor seats while they are so cheap ($500/seat). Buy low, sell high fellas.

[DC_INT'L]

But I credit the AD for making this hire. He's supposed to be a basketball guy, and he's 0 for 2. No one knows that better than he does. So what does he do for the third hire? He sets his ego aside and hires an up and comer, who, I will admit, could be a bust.

Not a lot of ego setting aside in this hire.

But, I believe that this was the right hire. I don't think there are many names out there that Samford could have reasonably gone after who would have been better for the job. Again.. it's Samford.

There are names out there, current and former mid-major assistants. It goes to the foundation thing that Cujo mentioned. None of those hires would win a press conference or be the centerpiece of a snazzy social media campaign or, dare we say, create a new list of potential donors. Going with one of those names would have been setting aside ego. Not this hire.

I do think that the AD must realize that this hire and its subsequent success or failure is a referendum on his tenure at SU.

I think it's a little bit petty to hone in on the fact that the social media guys have created a catchy "brand" with Bucky Ball.. Those guys are just doing their jobs, and Bucky and AD both probably had little to do with it. I get it.. it speaks more to the lack of foundation and to the puffing, but these are the times we live in. Y'all remember the Lane Train video Ole Miss brought out?

As far as season tickets go.. Better get your floor seats while they are so cheap ($500/seat). Buy low, sell high fellas.

They are doing their job. Not bemoaning them for that. I do hope that Samford men's basketball can be successful. Time will tell. A decade of futility should have taught SU administration a lot. I'm not sure that it has.

[Cujo]

Re being petty, you could also say that I'm being discrete. I "only" discussed the t-shirt topic because it was the topic of discussion.

[77SU]

I do think that the AD must realize that this hire and its subsequent success or failure is a referendum on his tenure at SU.

I don't think he's worried about this hire being a referendum on his tenure.

“If I was in my 40s, it might be a different story,” said Newton, the son of famed coach and athletic administrator C.M. Newton. “But at 59, and having the advantage of watching Bucky and being around him and seeing him in this community, that took the trepidation out of it....

from https://www.si.com/college/2020/04/14/samford-hires-bucky-mcmillan-high-school-coach

I believe he already has an exit strategy planned because in 3 years he would be eligible to start drawing his social security if necessary. His overall boss will more than likely retire in 2022. If there is not a new president already in place by then, we would probably have an interim president for a year, bringing us to that magic year of 2023. Any subsequent failure would be addressed by the new administration in Samford Hall. If there is success, the AD may be safe, and he can tell us all, "I told you so."

[77SU]

As far as season tickets go.. Better get your floor seats while they are so cheap ($500/seat). Buy low, sell high fellas.

I bought floor seats when they were cheap ($125), then they went up to $150, then $250, and now $500. Unfortunately they are not shares of stock, it's only rent for 15 games. Even though I didn't graduate from the BSOB, I understand paying rent is throwing money down the drain. Considering what the MBB program has done over those years, my ROI is awful, and that doesn't take into account the four seats up in the reserved bleacher section. Under the rare occasion I'm not at a game, I would be more than happy to sell you a single ticket at the discounted rate of $250 each. Operators are standing by, call within the next ten minutes and you can buy two tickets for $500 plus shipping and handling for each ticket.