The Samford Bulldogs men's basketball team is the basketball team that represents

Samford University Samford University is a Private university, private Christian university in Homewood, Alabama, United States. It was founded by Baptist Church, Baptists in 1841 as Howard College and located until 1887 in Marion, Alabama. It is governed by an in ...

in Homewood,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, United States. The school's team currently competes in the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

. They are currently led by head coach

Lennie Acuff Lennie Acuff (born January 24, 1965) is an American basketball coach who is currently the head men's basketball coach at Samford University. Playing career Acuff attended Shorter College where he set the single game, single season and career re ...

and play their home games at the Pete Hanna Center. The Bulldogs have appeared three times in the NCAA tournament, most recently in 2024.

History

Samford University has sponsored a men's basketball team since 1901. They have been NCAA Division I since 1972 as an independent, in the Trans-Atlantic Athletic Conference (now

ASUN Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

), the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with ...

, and presently the

John Brady Era (1991–1997)

John Brady was the head men's basketball coach at Samford from the 1991–92 season through the 1996–97 season. While coaching at Samford, he led the program to back-to-back

Trans America Athletic Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

West Division titles in 1996 and 1997. His record during his years at Samford was 89–77. He left Samford to become the head coach at

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

in 1997. He stayed with the Tigers until 2008, leading the program to SEC regular-season titles in 2000 and 2006, earning SEC Coach of the Year honors both years. He coached LSU to four NCAA Tournament appearances, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2000 and the Final Four in 2006. Following his years at LSU, Brady was the head coach at

Arkansas State Arkansas State University (A-State or ASU) is a public research university in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States. It is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System and the second-largest university in the state. The university ...

from 2008–16, winning a pair of

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...

West Division titles. He retired from coaching with a career record of 402–344.

Jimmy Tillette Era (1997–2012)

Jimmy Tillette was the head men’s basketball coach at Samford from 1997 to 2012. He led the program to back-to-back

(TAAC) Tournament titles and NCAA Tournament bids in 1999 and 2000. In his years in charge of the Samford program, Tillette won a school-record 229 games. His 1998–99 team won a school-record 24 games, going 24–6, winning the TAAC regular season and TAAC Tournament titles and earning the program’s first NCAA Tournament bid. For his efforts, Tillette was named the 1999 TAAC Coach of the Year. The following season, the team went 21–11, winning the TAAC Tournament and reaching the NCAA Tournament for a second-straight year. The 1999–2000 team also claimed impressive wins over Alabama and St. John’s. Tillette’s 2005–06 team posted a record of 20–11, reaching the finals of the

Tournament.

Bennie Seltzer Era (2012–2014)

Bennie Seltzer was the head men's basketball coach at Samford from 2012 to 2014. He led the program to a 24–41 record over his two seasons at the helm.

Scott Padgett Era (2014–2020)

Scott Padgett was the head men's basketball coach at Samford from 2014 to 2020. He led the program to a 84–115 record during his time at the University. The Bulldogs reached postseason play in 2017 as the team participated in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT).

Bucky McMillan Era (2020–2025)

In just four seasons, McMillan has transformed the Samford program into one of the top programs in the prestigious

. The 2023–24 season was the best in program history. The team set a school record with 29 wins, posting a 29–6 final record, marking the third-straight season of winning at least 20 games. The team won the Southern Conference regular-season title for a second-straight year with a 15–3 league mark, and the Bulldogs won the SoCon Tournament for the first time and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000. In the NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs narrowly lost to perennial national power Kansas. McMillan was named the SoCon Coach of the Year three straight seasons from 2022 to 2024. He was also named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Region 21 Coach of the Year for the 2023–2024 season. On April 5, 2025, McMillan left Samford after 5 seasons to become head coach at

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

Lennie Acuff Era (2025–Present)

On April 9, 2025, Samford University announced the hiring of Lennie Acuff to be its next head basketball coach.https://samfordsports.com/news/2025/4/9/Acuff_Named_Samford_Coach.aspx Acuff departed Lipscomb University, where he accumulated an overall record of 110-82 over six seasons in Nashville and made one NCAA tournament appearance (2025). Prior to Lipscomb, Acuff headed several NAIA and NCAA-Division II programs from 1990–2019.

Postseason

NCAA Division I Tournament results

The Bulldogs have appeared three times in the NCAA Division I tournament. Their combined record is 0–3.

NIT results

The Bulldogs have appeared in the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

(NIT) once. Their record is 0–1.

CIT results

The Bulldogs have appeared in one CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). Their record is 1–1.

References

External links

* {{Southern Conference men's basketball navbox