After losing Buzz Williams this offseason, the Texas A&M Aggies decided to go in a different direction for their next head coach.

Rather than hire another power conference retread, the Aggies hired former Samford coach Bucky McMillan to lead the way. McMillan, 41, led the Bulldogs to a 99-52 record (54-29 SoCon) and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024, their first in 24 years, over his five seasons with the team.

Now, he’ll look to lead the Aggies to similar success in probably the best conference in the country.

Already, one of the premier coaches in the SEC is taking notice. When speaking at the Regions Traditions Pro-Am golf tournament, Alabama’s Nate Oats shared that he will be watching McMillan’s career with great interest.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Oats said, per On3. “I got here, I talked to Bucky, and I talked to him even about an assistant role. Then I told him, like, ‘Look, man, you need to get to wherever you’re going to get as an assistant,’ and fortunate for him, he’s able to jump right from high school head coach. ‘Just do it on your own accord, how good as you are, and that’ll be better.’ And he did.”

Oats has a somewhat similar background to McMillan. The 50-year-old’s first collegiate head coaching role came at Buffalo, where he led the Bulls to the NCAA Tournament three times in four seasons. Now, he’s one of the premier coaches in the country after leading the Crimson Tide to five straight tournament appearances, including a Final Four in 2024 and an Elite Eight in 2025.

“I mean, he got to Samford, hit it out of the park,” Oats said. “You know, me and him have talked a lot. Shoot, I’ve talked to him even a few times since he’s got to A&M. He says that the success I’ve had here, I think, helped him a little bit with just high school coaches can do it,” Oats said. “And I think it’s great for all the really good high school coaches around. I mean, he went right from high school to Samford. He hit it out of the park, and now he’s in our league.”

It will take some time for McMillan to establish himself in the SEC, especially when he’s basically had to build the roster from scratch this offseason. If he’s able to translate his game from a mid-major conference to a power conference, though, he might just have a chance to become a premier coach like Oats is.

The National Weather Service is adding to its number of confirmed tornadoes from Tuesday’s round of severe weather.

The National Weather Service in Huntsville continued conducting storm surveys on Thursday and have added two tornadoes to the ongoing count, which stands at eight.

That number will likely climb, with additional storm surveys ongoing, forecasters said.

One of the newly confirmed tornadoes was an EF-1 with top winds estimated at 110 mph in Jackson County.

The other new addition to the list was another EF-1 with 100 mph winds in Marshall County near Allens Crossroads:

The weather service in Huntsville also did storm surveys on Wednesday and confirmed three other tornadoes — and two of them were EF-2s.

The weather service in Birmingham also confirmed three EF-1 tornadoes in central Alabama from storms Tuesday and early Wednesday.

In addition, straight-line winds of up to 105 mph were noted in far western Limestone, southeastern Lauderdale, northern Lawrence and northern Colbert counties, according to the weather service in Huntsville.

Here are the tornadoes confirmed so far:

1. Killingsworth Cove Tornado (Madison County): EF-2, maximum winds 134 mph. Path length 1.41 miles; path width 175 yards. No injuries.
2. Madison Tornado (Limestone and Madison counties): EF-2, top winds 125 mph. Path length 13.15 miles; path width 380 yards. No injuries.
3. South Athens Tornado (Limestone County): EF-1, top winds 105 mph. Path length 2.76 miles; path width 160 yards. No injuries.
4. Saks Tornado (Calhoun County): EF-1, top winds 95 mph. Path length 3.51 miles; path width 0 yards. No injuries.
5. County Road 67 Tornado (Cleburne County): EF-1, top winds 95 mph. Path length 1.97 miles; path width 550 yards. No injuries.
6. County Road 185 Tornado (Bullock County): EF-1, top winds 105 mph. Path length 4.98 miles; path width 900 yards. No injuries.
7. Allens Crossroads Tornado (Marshall County): EF-1, top winds 100 mph. Path length 3.39 miles; path width 150 yards. No injuries.
8. Trenton Tornado (Jackson County): EF-1, top winds 110 mph. Path length 10.46 miles; path width 275 yards. No injuries.

See more on the north Alabama tornadoes from the National Weather Service in Huntsville here.

See more on the central Alabama tornadoes from the National Weather Service in Birmingham here.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – The National Weather service has confirmed a total of six tornadoes that traveled through Alabama Tuesday night, and two of them were in east Alabama.

According to NWS, an EF-1 struck Calhoun County and in Cleburne County with winds reaching up to 95 MPH.

Officials say the tornado in Calhoun County occurred in the Saks area and had a path width of 3.51 miles, beginning on 2 SW Saks at 11:35 p.m. and ending at 11:40 p.m. on 1 SE Blue Mountain. Officials say the tornado caused damage just north of the Lloyds Chapel Cemetery and several other places where there were trees that were uprooted or snapped, including one tree falling on a manufactured home and a site built home in the area. The tornado also forced traffic and road blockages on CR 46 near the intersections or McCulley Lane and near Alexandria Road due to uprooted trees.

The Cleburne County tornado began on 3 NNW Ranburne at 12:25 a.m. Officials say the tornado traveled for 1.97 miles before lifting on 2 N Ranburne. The tornado destroyed half of an old barn with a large portion of the barn landing on a home about 30 yards downstream. Debris from the barn was also found hundreds of yards away in an adjoining pasture before snapping and uprooting trees as it crossed CR 67, 611, and 95, according to NWS.

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