Photo by Jeff Thompson.
0713 Bucky McMillan
Bucky McMillan is the varsity basketball coach at Mountain Brook High School.
Before 2001, Mountain Brook had never had a team in the final four of the state basketball championship. Bucky McMillan changed that as the star point guard for the 2001 team.
Before 2013, the Spartans had never won a state basketball championship. Once again, Bucky McMillan changed that as the team’s head coach, leading the Spartans to their first state championship in March.
It’s safe to say that McMillan has had a huge impact on basketball in this community.
“Basketball is my venue to reach kids,” McMillan said. “Kids here have good parents, and so they have great character and know that hard work pays off. I don’t have to teach them that, which is a tribute to their upbringing. We don’t have many attitude problems.”
McMillan moved to Mountain Brook at age 4 and has been involved with basketball here ever since. After a hugely successful high school career, McMillan played at Birmingham-Southern College under Duane Reboul. He coached Mountain Brook AAU and OTM teams while at school, and became the JV coach after graduation.
Now, after five years as head varsity coach, the 29-year-old has led the program to new heights as state champions.
“Here, I get to influence kids all the way from second grade through high school,” McMillan said. “I like to instill toughness in them because that’s not always synonymous with Mountain Brook. People know we will be smart and have character, but I like to add toughness to that list.”
