BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Samford head men's basketball coach Bucky McMillan earned the Quality of Life Award from the City of Homewood and was named the Grand Marshall for the I Love Homewood Day parade Saturday.
 
The Quality of Life Award is given annually to the person who has made the biggest impact on Homewood in the past year.
 
"Thank you to Mayor McClusky and the City of Homewood, it is truly an honor to receive these awards," McMillan said. "We greatly appreciate the partnership with the people of Homewood as we felt your unwavering support throughout the entire basketball season. We certainly want to do our part as 'Homewood's Team' to continue to bring pride to the community that has been so supportive of our university through the years."
 
McMillan led Samford to a historic season during the 2023-24 campaign. The Bulldogs won a school-record 29 games, won the program's first outright Southern Conference regular season title, won the Bulldogs' first SoCon Tournament championship and earned the program's first bid to the NCAA Tournament since 2000. In the NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs narrowly missed knocking off national power Kansas.
 
During the season, the Bulldogs went on a school-record 17-game win streak, and the team posted a perfect 18-0 record in the Pete Hanna Center. The Bulldogs ranked fifth in the nation in scoring, averaging 86.1 points per game. The team also ranked in the top 10 in the nation in three-point percentage (5^th-39.5), turnovers forced per game (5^th-16.66), bench points per game (6^th-33.29), fastbreak points per game (7^th-15.20), winning percentage (7^th-82.9) and effective field goal percentage (8^th-58.1).
 
Following the season, McMillan was named the SoCon Coach of the Year for a third-straight season. He was also named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 21 Coach of the Year.
 
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