Jeff Goodman reveals whether Chris Beard could be candidate for SEC jobs in 2023

The college basketball coaching carousel is starting to spin after Ole Miss announced its decision to part ways with Kermit Davis Friday. One name to come up right away was former Texas coach Chris Beard — and Stadium reporter Jeff Goodman discussed his chances of coaching in the SEC after his legal issues this year.

Basically, he said it might be too soon to tell.

“Chris Beard, as we know, the charges were dropped … but, ultimately, there’s still going to be some question marks [about] whether or not he can be hired at an SEC school this quickly with all the damage that was done from that police report,” Goodman said on The Paul Finebaum Show Friday.

Beard was fired Jan. 5 after his fiancee accused him of domestic violence in December. Texas placed him on administrative leave in wake of the incident, but she later released a statement saying he didn’t “intentionally” try to harm her. The district attorney dropped the charges on Feb. 15. Still, questions remain about whether schools will want to hire him after everything that happened.

Even if Beard doesn’t end up in the SEC, though, Goodman said he’d have his options depending on what jobs become available. Beard will have to win over a lot of people, and Goodman suggested he could wind up starting at the mid-major level or in a one-bid league if he wants to coach in 2023-24.

He name-dropped a couple possible destinations, too.

“It depends on who’s hiring, right?” Goodman said. “Obviously, the hard part for him is going to be getting everybody on board. It’s not just the athletic director. It’s the board, it’s the president or the chancellor and, obviously, it’s going to be hard for him to recruit at the same level because whether or not he was guilty, innocent, whatever, it doesn’t look good, certainly, for women. If you’re a mother, how are you reacting to Chris Beard recruiting your son? I think that’s something that’s going to be a hurdle for him to have to overcome wherever he’s hired.

“Can he get an SEC job, or does he have to start with something on the smaller end? A one-bid league? Get in at maybe a Wichita State if that opens, a Western Kentucky if Rick Stansbury’s fired — which, I’m told, he probably will be here. So, I don’t know. Again, does he take the year off? I don’t think he does. I think he takes a job and he will get an opportunity at a job this year in this carousel, but I don’t know if it’s going to be an SEC job.”