Prospect of Beard hire at Ole Miss has Nashville buzzing
NASHVILLE — Chris Beard once had things rolling so well at Texas Tech that then-North Carolina coach Roy Williams flew to Lubbock to see how the Red Raiders did things.
That sent Texas Tech fans into a panic, worrying that Beard would leave Lubbock for Chapel Hill and all of its basketball charm.
In the end, it was Beard’s alma mater, Texas, that eventually pulled him away from Texas Tech, a program he took to the 2019 national championship game before losing in overtime to Virginia.
Beard’s tenure in Austin ended fairly quickly and quite unceremoniously when he was fired in January, one month after being arrested on third-degree felony domestic violence charges. Beard’s fiancée, Randi Trew, called Austin police and told them Beard had strangled her, bit her and caused her abrasions.
In February, the Travis County (Texas) District Attorney’s office dismissed those charges. A month later, Beard has emerged as the leading — and probably only? — candidate to take over as Ole Miss’ head basketball coach.
The who's next storyline will have to wait at least one more day, as Ole Miss defeated South Carolina, 67-61, Wednesday night to earn a Thursday afternoon shot versus Tennessee. However, as national media acknowledged a story Wednesday morning that's been building among local media for weeks, the likelihood of Beard landing at Ole Miss was being heavily discussed in college basketball circles as the day progressed.
Beard would replace Kermit Davis, who got the Rebels to the NCAA Tournament just once in his five seasons in Oxford. The Rebels were 4-14 in Southeastern Conference play a year ago and 3-15 this season.
Beard’s hiring, should it happen, will result in a public relations backlash. That much is an absolute certainty. Blake Toppmeyer is an SEC columnist for the USA Today Network.
“Hiring Chris Beard would be the ultimate ‘morality doesn’t matter’ hire,” Toppmeyer said. “Could he win at Ole Miss? He’d probably give Ole Miss as good of a chance of success as anyone it could get. Certainly, he’s a proven winner, although winning at Ole Miss inside an SEC that grows deeper and stronger would be his biggest challenge to date. He’ll need to recruit nationally and internationally, and he’ll have to do it for a program without much pedigree. Every program needs a broad recruiting base in basketball, but definitely Ole Miss.
“Past results aside, a Beard hire would be tough to stomach. I’ve covered college sports for too long to expect coaches to be of impeccable moral fiber, but is it too much to ask to hire a coach who hasn’t been hauled out of his house on a felony charge? Evidently.”
That opinion will be widely shared. Ole Miss would be wise to have a public relations plan in place to accompany Beard’s hiring.
Of course, there’s the basketball angle to consider as well. And when it comes to basketball, Beard is elite. He’s led three different programs — Little Rock, Texas Tech and Texas — to at least the second round of the NCAA Tournament. At Texas Tech, Beard also guided the Red Raiders to an Elite 8 berth.
“He has no hobbies,” a source close to Beard said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “He will win wherever he’s at. He may not stay at Ole Miss very long because he never stays anywhere long. He’s just relentless. He knows how to maneuver his way through this current landscape.
“He’s a brilliant dude, one of the smartest people I know. He’s got a big ego but so do most people who are as good at what they do as he is. He doesn’t do anything else. He’s just basketball. He’s a grinder. He’ll recruit his ass off. He can turn it quickly.”
A coaching source, speaking anonymously, said he believed a deal between Ole Miss and Beard was “done.” He said it would be “huge” for Ole Miss, adding that while Beard might be “quirky,” he will “change that place, whether they want to or not.”
Beard’s potential hiring was a scorching hot topic Wednesday at Bridgestone Arena, where the Nos. 5-10 seeds had practices prior to their Thursday games in the SEC Tournament.
“It’d be a great hire,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “Of course, and Chris would be the first to tell you this, you’re not going to hire a better coach than Kermit Davis. But Chris is a great program-builder. He’s a great man. He’s a great coach. He’s done so well everywhere he’s been. One of the things I love about Chris Beard is, for as successful as he’s been, he’s always stayed humble and hungry. You put Lane Kiffin and Chris Beard together, you’re talking about great coaches and great personalities. That would be great for the league.”
One of Pearl’s assistants, Wes Flanigan, replaced Beard at Little Rock after serving on Beard’s staff for one season. During that year, the Trojans won 30 games, including the Sun Belt Championship Game over ULM, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after knocking off Purdue in double overtime in the first round.
“He’s one of the greatest CEOs in our business,” Flanigan said Wednesday after Auburn’s practice. “He’s really good at getting his point across and reaching those kids to a certain extent where they feel connected to their teammates, the program and the community. He invests a lot of time into those relationships, whether it be with the players or the parents.
“He’s a great man, a great dude. He’s a man of his word. He’s a friend of mine and I’m just kind of happy. It’s unfortunate what happened to him at Texas. I’m hopefully happy that he gets another opportunity in college basketball.”
Flanigan’s younger brother, Jason, played at Ole Miss, making three trips to the NCAA Tournament during his career. Asked if he could see Beard being highly successful at his brother’s alma mater, Flanigan said, “Definitely.”
“I think Chris Beard is the type of guy that people look up to, the type of guy that people follow. I think if given the right support and the necessary things that he needs in order to have a winning program, I think he’d do great. He’s won everywhere he’s been and he’ll continue to win.”
The league, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Wednesday, has never been deeper. Just look at Wednesday’s practices. Pearl, Barnes, Eric Musselman, Jerry Stackhouse, Chris Jans and Todd Golden all directed teams through workouts open to the media. With the exception of Stackhouse, who is renowned as an elite recruiter at Vanderbilt, they’ve all guided teams to NCAA Tournament appearances. Barnes, Pearl and Musselman have done it at multiple schools and Jans appears poised to join that list next week.
Beard joining the SEC’s roster of coaches would just make the league that much more difficult to navigate, Barnes said.
“Obviously, Chris, everywhere he’s been since I’ve known him, he’s done a terrific job,” Barnes said. “There’s no doubt he loves coaching the game of basketball and if that’s where he lands, that’s what he’ll do. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He’s a basketball guy and everywhere he’s been, he’s done a terrific job.”
The SEC, Barnes said, is “the best,” and that’s before Oklahoma and Texas join in July 2024.
“I think it’s going to so separate itself from everyone else,” Barnes said. “It already is a league of champions when you think about every sport in our conference. It’s only going to continue to get better.”
Barnes’ sentiment is shared by many, including former Auburn standout Daymeon Fishback, now a college basketball analyst for the SEC Network. Fishback was in Bridgestone Arena Wednesday, preparing for Thursday’s games. He was visiting with Barnes and Pearl, but the Beard talk was on his mind as well.
Hiring Beard, Fishback said, is a no-brainer.
“If you’ve got a chance to get Chris Beard, you get Chris Beard,” Fishback said, praising his former foe and current Ole Miss athletics director, Keith Carter, for navigating a “tough decision” regarding Davis and conducting a coaching search knowing that if he hires the wrong guy, he could “set your program back a decade.”
Fishback said he believes Beard would win at Ole Miss. He referenced Beard’s success at Texas Tech and his ability to recruit quality rosters wherever he’s been.
“I think Beard could recruit successfully anywhere,” Fishback said. “He’d be great for the league.”