Chris Beard is the top candidate for the Ole Miss basketball job

Updated March 8th: Chris Bart is becoming the front-runner for the men’s basketball head coaching job, according to Ole Miss ESPN citing sources. Beard was fired from his position at the University of Texas following an arrest on December 12, 2022.

Chris Beard’s coaching career will end when he wants it, not when someone else decides it for him. In America, allegedly biting and strangling a woman in your house isn’t enough to keep a good coach off the sidelines — even if you are Your former employer still stands by the decision to fire you for good cause also after Initial fees have been dropped.

according to a ESPN report, Beard is the top candidate for the job as Ole Miss’s head basketball coach since the two sides have been in touch. Beard was fired as the University of Texas men’s basketball coach in January after being arrested in December for a domestic incident with his fiancée.

“He just snapped at me and got super violent,” read the affidavit by Randi Trew – Beard’s fiancee. “He choked me, threw me out of bed, bit me, bruised my leg all over, he threw me around and went insane.”

“Coach Beard is 100 percent innocent of these allegations,” said his attorney, Perry Minton Austin American statesmanafter the arrest.

Weeks later, she sang a different tune.

“Chris and I are deeply saddened that we have drawn negative attention to our family, friends and the University of Texas, among other things. As the fiancee and biggest supporter of Chris, I apologize for the role I played in this unfortunate event. I realize my frustration at breaking his glasses sparked a physical fight between Chris and I.” She shared the statement.

“Chris didn’t strangle me and that’s what I told law enforcement that night. Chris has stated that he acted in self-defense and I don’t dispute that. I don’t think Chris was trying to intentionally harm me in any way. It was never my intention to have him arrested or prosecuted. We appreciate everyone’s support and prayers at this difficult time,” she said.

After the charges were dropped, Beard issued a statement:

“I am pleased to announce that the charges against me have been dismissed,” Beard said. “Although I have always believed and trusted in the truth and this outcome, it has been extremely difficult to wait patiently and not respond publicly. I am sorry and deeply remorseful to my family, my friends, all of my players and staff, both recent and past, and everyone at my alma mater, the University of Texas.

Beard’s career is far from over

But as expected, Beard’s career is far from over. There are different rules for men like Beard, especially when it comes to coaching — especially in college basketball.

Beard stormed the national scene when he led Texas Tech to the 2019 national championship game. In a season that many will remember for being highlighted by a Duke team featuring Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish and Tre Jones, it was the Beards underdogs Red Raiders, just a few possessions away, at the first-ever Final Four appearance of the program to win a national title when they fell to Virginia in overtime. Since then, Beard has been one of the hottest names in college basketball. After two more successful seasons in Lubbock, UT hired him to restore shine to their program. It worked.

But this column isn’t about Texas basketball. It’s about, as history has shown us, Beard won’t be out of work for long.

College basketball is such a marvel that it owns this entire month – March. No other sport can sustain America’s attention span for as long. However, college basketball is also a sport in which head coaches have a lot of power. And if you’re good – and white – fans and sporting directors will sip copious amounts of an elixir that said, ‘Oh, that thing was way over the top. Give that guy another chance,” giving them a comfortable amnesia about a coach’s alleged sins while also allowing them to remember how useful that same coach is when it comes to winning games.

Here’s a list of college basketball head coaches who somehow still have jobs, were able to keep theirs after a scandal, or are eventually rehired.

𑇐 Greg Gard (Wisconsin) – A year after firing an employee for with the N-word (resulting in one of the team’s few black players migrating), Gard nearly had one team mutiny on his hands. He followed Started a brawl with Juwan Howard and Michigan during a post-game handshake line and looked like a victim. He’s still employed.

𑇐 Greg McDermott (Creighton) – The Bluejays head coach must have fallen asleep last year Django Unchained as he did his best act of a slave owner. “Guys, we have to stick together. We need both feet. I need everyone to stay on the plantation. I can’t get anyone off the plantation,” McDermott told his team. The school suspended him for five seconds and quickly review the situation. He’s still employed.

𑇐 Gregg Marshall (Wichita State) – In 2020, we found out that the Shocker Trainer is a madman – as described by a former assistant – after it was claimed he choked one of his assistants and hit a playerslammed another on the body and made fun of that of a third athlete Native American heritage. There was a long one Investigation, but Marshall was not fired. Instead, he simply resigned and received a $7.75 million contract settlement.

𑇐 Mark Few (Gonzaga) – Last year TMZ released a Video the head coach of the Zags from his time arrested for a DUI. Few were drunk and angry and pretending the police were under him. The footage shows Few refusing to conduct on-site sobriety tests, claiming they are “entirely subjective”. He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor DUI, was suspended for a couple of games, and the situation flew by immediately. He’s still employed.

𑇐 Will Wade (LSU) – The former LSU coach was caught doing one FBI wiretapping discuss how he pays players. Everyone heard it, and he still went to work every day. LSU suspendedthen finally fired Wade for NCAA violations came against him and his program, in a move that suggested LSU would ignore federal evidence until the NCAA decided to penalize the school. He’s not employed, but don’t be surprised if he gets re-employed.

𑇐 Sean Miller (Xavier) – This was announced earlier this week Miller would not be sanctioned by the NCAA’s Independent Resolution Panel of the aftermath of what happened while he was in Arizona. Miller and Arizona were part of the FBI investigation into the sport, and it was alleged that he paid DeAndre Ayton out of pocket. Miller has consistently refused to pay players. As you can see, Miller is training with Xavier like nothing happened.

𑇐 Rick Pitino (Iona) — Pitino has had allegations and injuries against him since he was a Assistant coach in Hawaii in the 1970sS. He’s still training.

And finally, Mark Adams – the man who replaced Beard at Texas Tech – is due to “racially insensitive‘ commented when he told one of his players that it was ‘always a master and a servant.”

There’s so much more to Beard’s story that we’ll never know. But a school allegedly wants to hire him as a result taking place in Texas was as predictable as a Tyler Perry production.

The combination of Chris Beard’s talent and wisdom would always save his career. Why? Because unfortunately, someone at Ole Miss – or somewhere else – will hire him because they care more about his suffocating defenses than the fact that he allegedly tried to smother his fiance.