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Samford Rolls the Dice on High School Coach Bucky McMillan—and Hopes It Struck Gold

Martin Newton isn’t delusional enough to think he’s found the next John Wooden. There is no next John Wooden.

The next John Thompson? No.

But Newton is daring to dream that he might have found the next Bob McKillop. That would be a monumental triumph in its own right.

The athletic director at Samford hired Bucky McMillan last week to be his new basketball coach. McMillan’s previous college coaching experience: not a minute.

The 36-year-old had been the head coach for 12 years at Mountain Brook High School, just a few miles away from Samford’s campus in Birmingham, Ala.