He takes over a program with one returning player, a college athletics environment that is changing literally by the day — and, by the way, he will be at the helm of a team in the most competitive conference in college basketball history. But first, he needs to adjust to life in Aggieland.

“I'm just trying to stay alive here to get through this process,” he told members of the A&M press corps Monday. “But, (the response from A&M fans), it’s been awesome, and it's genuine, you know, like, I like real people, and, you know, and it's been genuine how much they love this place.”

A love for A&M helped McMillan land his first two assistants, Mitch Cole and Kyle Keller. Both served under Billy Kennedy during his tenure, which included two Sweet 16 appearances. Cole worked with McMillan for four seasons at Samford, while Keller was quickly hired Sunday.

“Kyle and Mitch were tremendous to get, not just because they're tied to this university, but because of their knowledge of the game,” McMillan said.

While McMillan runs the show, Cole will have a major part in operating the offense while Keller concentrates on defense.

“Mitch Cole was one of the best offensive minds in the game. You know, the people we had, professional scouts and coaches, come in our gym at Sanford all the time, we would be talking to them, you know, and I'm not going to name drop here, but all the time, wondering about things that we do,”McMillan said. “And Kyle Keller, the way that he plays defense. I mean, it is a defense that tries to rip your heart out and take your will from you, and that's the way I view defense, like I want an aggressive defense … We want to make other teams have to play fast because they fear that we're going to take the ball from and that's how you know in football terms here, he blitzes every play. And I like that. I can live like that. I don't want to live another way. I want to be blitzing.”

McMillan’s style, known as “Bucky Ball” is highly aggressive at both ends of the court. His team was 13th nationally in scoring last season, but was also third in the country in steals and fourth in turnovers forced. He said his teams will never play with a shortage of effort.

“You'll see people that are together … and that they're going to attack fearlessly. And that's the first pillar of the program, great personnel that work and play so hard (and) play together,” he said. “And you're going to see when we play, like, let's see dogs on the floor, you know what I'm saying? Like, you're going to see, like, win, lose or draw, you're going to walk away and say, ‘I'm glad I had this Texas A&M logo on my shirt. Those dudes laid it down up there.’ Like, when there's a loose ball, there's all five guys diving on (the court).”

In order to get five guys diving on the court, McMillan has to get five guys, period.

“We're gonna have to get to work immediately. And we do play unique style, like we play very up tempo, very fast paced. We love to recruit to that system, but I know this, we can't run that system with four players,” he said. “So we're going to have to get players on the board, and we're going to get players on the board quickly here. And you know, we'll have to get lucky in some circumstances, but you're going to see us going to work here right after this press conference.”

McMillan made no bones about the difficulties he’s facing as he takes over a program facing a compressed timeframe to pick up transfers.

“We won’t be to be as selective as we'd like to be, right? We have to fill a roster. And this season is different than any other season, because with the (NCAA) lawsuit, that stuff that was going on, most of players this year went to the portal early, because the compensation out there was significant early because most programs thought they needed to spend a large percentage of their money before this lawsuit are settled,” he said. “Because of that, a lot of players are not available, and particularly at the level, the level player that we need in the SEC so this would be like on most years. I mean, this is like taking over a program in August and having one player.”

When asked by AggieYell.com how his recruiting approach will change with a significant NIL war chest — estimated to be approximately $7 million — but having to also deal with a compressed timeframe, McMillan said all the NIL support that can be mustered will be put to use.

“We're going to need all the help that we can get and the support that we can get, that's for sure. And I know in the future that that it's going to be easy when the 12th Man, they know me because in our in our program … they’re going to want to support our athletes,” he said. “Now, in the short term, everyone's going to take a leap of faith, because we have to have that support to recruit on a level playing field, and so that's very necessary.”

McMillan said his offensive style could appeal to players in the portal, as it places emphasis on three things.

“I'm not the best golfer in the world, I hear there's some good golf out here. But, but here's the deal: if, analytically, if it’s a free throws, legs and threes game, and you can protect that, I'd be a decent golfer if you told me, Hey, you just gotta learn to hit the driver, the pitching wedge and the putter. Don't worry about the 9,8,7,6,5,4 (irons), the three wood hitting, two iron off the deck,” he said. “It makes it easy, and we focus on that, and we get pretty good at hitting that pitching wedge, putting and hitting that driver.”

Even though he had only been on campus for a few hours, McMillan said he already felt the desire for Aggie basketball to become a consistent big winner.

“I feel the passion from this place, in this fan base and the people that are there through it all,” he said. “You know, we're going to celebrate a lot of highs. It's going to be very rewarding.”