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Ole Miss finishing deal to hire former Texas coach Chris Beard

March 13th, 2023

Chris Beard is set to be a Power Five head coach again.

According to multiple reports, Ole Miss is working towards a deal to hire the former Texas head coach as it’s new men’s basketball coach. Beard was fired by Texas in early January after he was charged with felony domestic violence after a dispute with his fiancee at their home in Austin in December.

The charge against Beard was dropped in mid-February. The Travis County District Attorney said the charge could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt “after a careful and thorough review of the evidence” and public statements by Beard’s fiancee. Shortly after Beard was arrested, Beard’s fiancee said through a statement from her attorney that she had initiated the confrontation with Beard and that he had acted in self-defense.

Police officers had said they observed a bite mark on her right arm and abrasions on her body after they were called.

Beard was immediately placed on leave after his arrest and Rodney Terry was elevated to become the team’s interim coach. Per reports, an announcement that Beard is OIe Miss’ new coach could come within the next two days.

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Chris Beard’s teams have won 70% of their games. (Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)

Ole Miss fired Kermit Davis in February

The Rebels made a coaching change on Feb. 24 when they fired coach Kermit Davis with tree games to go in the regular season. Ole Miss was 10-18 overall and 2-13 in the SEC when Davis was fired. The Rebels went 1-2 in their final three regular-season games under interim coach Win Case and [INSERT HERE] in the SEC tournament.

Ole Miss hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2019 and hasn’t advanced to the second weekend of the tournament since 2013. The Rebels have made just two NCAA appearances since it made it to the Sweet 16 as a No. 12 seed 10 years ago.

Davis compiled a 74-79 record since 2018-19 at Ole Miss. He came to the Rebels from Middle Tennessee State. Ole Miss had a winning record in just one of its seasons since making the tournament in Davis’ first season with the team.

Beard has a .701 winning percentage

Beard was eight games into his second season at Texas before he was placed on leave by the school. The Longhorns were 7-1 at the time and went 22-12 in 2021-22.

He came to Texas after five years at Texas Tech where the Red Raiders made the NCAA tournament three times and advanced to the Final Four in 2019. Texas Tech was 31-7 that season and lost to Virginia in the national title game.

Before he was hired at Tech, Beard was the coach at Little Rock for a season in 2015-16. Little Rock was 30-5 that year and made it to the tournament as a No. 12 seed. The Trojans upset No. 5 Purdue before losing to No. 4 seed Iowa State in the second round.

This content was originally sourced and posted at Yahoo! Sports – News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games »
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