We’ve all seen the videos coming out of Texas A&M. We all know the stories.
We know that you have to say howdy instead of hey. We’ve heard the songs and seen the “12th man” swaying along arm and arm.
There’s the famous “Midnight Yell” during football season led by the “yell leaders” — which led to this cringy video before the Appalachian State game last season. App State ended up beating Texas A&M in that game.
It’s all weird, but it’s all uniquely Texas A&M, and that’s what new men’s basketball head coach Bucky McMillan was told when he took over the gig to replace Buzz Williams.
It’s a cult, in a good way, right?
“You know, I’ve heard — people tell me that the people are so tight with all that they do, everything’s kind of like the opposite in some ways, right. They’re talking about, don’t say hey, it’s howdy. And so, I was hearing some of the unique stuff that I had seen from afar but I didn’t understand it yet, right,” McMillan said in his introductory news conference (h/t On3). “They said it’s almost like a cult, like, in a good way, though. Like, it’s like, if you’re in, you’re in and that’s like their way of saying — hey, like, howdy, howdy, you’re a believer, I’m a believer like we’re on the same page, right, we believe in this place. And, um, I think that’s really cool, you know.”
While that’s somewhat of an awkward way to get around to the fact that folks at Texas A&M absolutely have school spirit, McMillan is right that it’s ultimately a good thing for his basketball program.
Sure, it’s easy for rivals to make fun of the Aggies, but each and every athlete who steps onto the court at Texas A&M knows that they’ve got a whole slew of support behind them.
This is a passionate fanbase and the Aggies had given them plenty to cheer for in the Williams era. He took Texas A&M to the NCAA Tournament for three seasons in a row before bolting to Maryland.
That’s the standard McMillan needs to live up to, but it’s worth noting that the program has never been to a Final Four, thus the Aggies have never won the NCAA Tournament.
That’s the ultimate goal in College Station for the basketball program, and that’s a tall mountain to climb. At the very least, though, McMillan has a super supportive “cult” behind him, and that support is indeed a good thing.
“I feel the passion from this place and this fanbase and the people that are there through it all, you know,” McMillan said. “We’re going to celebrate a lot of highs. It’s going to be very rewarding.”
