Chris Beard ready to move forward, build trust as Ole Miss coach

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Chris Beard was fired from Texas last season following a domestic violence incident, but no charges were brought against him. Ole Miss quickly moved to make him their next head coach after firing Kermit Davis, to a mixed review from fans.

Since his introductory press conference, Beard has emphasized that the best way for him to move forward and re-gain the trust of everyone is to tell the truth. He doubled down on that at SEC Basketball Media Days.

“One way, the truth, Beard said of his approach to questions about his past. “Just talk about the truth, not only what’s happened the last couple of months, what’s happened my whole career. I also think that as human beings, as coaches, as players, we all go through adversity, we all go through tough times.

“And I’ve always thought that was an opportunity to respond. Certainly in teaching, in coaching, I’ve always felt that’s what coaching is. Coack (Bob) Knight said that on a daily basis.”

While acknowledging that the story will follow him for the rest of his career, Beard is determined to return to the top of college basketball with Ole Miss, and is stressing the importance of trust to everyone involved.

Chris Beard building trust at Ole Miss

Chris Beard defines trust in a multitude of ways, and peppered it in multiple answers throughout his time at the podium. He believes the message has been received by players, coaches and the administration.

“I think trust is based on just reliability, dependability,” said Beard. “Do what you say you’re going to do and do it every day with discipline about what’s expected of you from the organization. When you walk into a situation, sometimes a player will trust you before you ever earn that trust, and as a coach especially with a transfer player you kind of give that trust before it’s earned. That’s kind of what the recruiting process is.

“Then you get to work. I think one of the sources of real optimism we have right now in Oxford is our players have done a good job this summer, the preseason, now 15 official practices in at continuing to earn not only our coaching staff’s trust but each other’s trust.”

Incoming transfer Allen Flanigan has known Chris Beard for most of his life, as his father spent time on staff at Arkansas-Little Rock and returns at Ole Miss. He said there has been no conversation with teammates about Beard’s legal trouble and that they are committed to building chemistry.

“We’ve got a long way to go, we’re building this thing,” Beard emphasized. “There are a lot of positive signs right now in our organization because guys are doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”