Samford’s Lennie Acuff, family feeling at home with the Bulldogs

HOMEWOOD, Ala. (WBRC) - Lennie Acuff has coached college basketball for more than 30 years, but his first season at Samford feels different.

The Huntsville native returned to Alabama after taking Lipscomb to the NCAA tournament in 2025. Now, his entire family is reunited in Birmingham, including his son Will, who serves as an assistant coach on his staff.

“This is home for our family. My wife is from Alabama. My children live here. My son is on my staff. We just had our first grandson that lives ten minutes away,” Acuff said.

The family connection was on full display Wednesday when four generations of Acuff’s attended Samford’s win over Western Carolina. Will Acuff, 29, said he’s trying to soak in every moment that he gets to work with his father.

“You don’t take this for granted because I know he’s kind of on the back stretch of his career and he won’t do this much longer,” Will Acuff said.

Lennie Acuff has a similar perspective on this chapter of his career.

“There’s no do-overs in life. There’s no dress rehearsal. It’s a one-shot deal and I want to take advantage of the time that I’m with him,” he said.

Will has a front-row seat to watch his father work and said he’s learning from the experience.

“What he does a really good job of is making our guys feel important. You can just tell that’s why people gravitate towards him and that’s why our guys like playing for him,” Will Acuff said.

Lennie’s leadership style centers around treating everyone equally.

“I’ve always felt like, at the end of the day, you’re no better than no one and no one is better than you. You treat people the way you want to be treated, there is no pecking order,” he said.

Acuff also expressed confidence in building on the program’s foundation.

“I’m very confident we can build on the success had here by coach Bucky and their staff, and I think Samford is a special place,” he said.

Acuff has won more than 650 games as a head coach. Samford is 9-7 this season and continues conference play this weekend with a trip to Chattanooga.

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