Report: Ole Miss coach Chris Beard will be a 'primary' candidate for Texas A&M job

Texas A&M might be targeting a rival SEC coach for its men’s basketball head coach opening after the departure of Buzz Williams to Maryland. According to Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68, Ole Miss‘ Chris Beard “will be one of the primary candidates” for the Aggies’ opening during their search.

Whether or not Beard gets the job remains to be seen, as he’s building something with the Rebels at the moment. However, the chance to return to the state of Texas might be tempting for the head coach. He previously led Texas Tech and Texas to success during his coaching career.

In two seasons with Ole Miss, Beard is 44-24. He brought the Rebels to their first NCAA Tournament under his guidance during the 2024-25 season, and they went to the Sweet 16 before their run came to a bitter end against Michigan State.

For the Aggies, Beard could be a double-whammy of a hire, bringing a proven, impressive coach to College Station, while hurting their conference rival. It makes all the sense in the world, but it remains to be seen if they can pull it off.

As for the aforementioned Williams, he decided to move on from Texas A&M following Kevin Willard‘s departure for Villanova. That created an opening with the Terrapins, and Williams decided he wanted to be the next leader of the Big Ten program’s men’s basketball team.

Williams has previous experience on the East Coast. He spent 2014-19 at Virginia Tech. Now, he’ll have a chance to operate in yet another power conference. The coach is coming off an incredible run of success with the program, reaching the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year with the Aggies during the 2024-25 season.

Additionally, Texas A&M has made the NCAA Tournament in three consecutive seasons after last appearing in the Big Dance in 2018. It took Williams a little bit to get things going, but once he did? The Aggies were more than a formidable team.

Williams success was truly underscored by the past two seasons, where Texas A&M would go 21-15 and 23-11. He helped mold a solid and cohesive group over his time with the Aggies. Now, he’ll hope to do the same with Maryland in the future, while Texas A&M moves in a different direction.

Will that be with Chris Beard at the helm? It remains to be seen, but what a turn of events that would be. The coaching carousel continues to turn, and we’ll all be waiting to see who gets of in College Station.