Ole Miss goes all-in, hires Texas’ Chris Beard as next men’s basketball coach
The Chris Beard era at Ole Miss has officially begun.
Completing a coaching search that officially lasted little more than two weeks, Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter found his guy in Beard, announcing the hire on Monday. Beard is replacing Kermit Davis, who departed the program on February 24, falling just shy of completing his fifth season leading the Rebels.
Beard was only available to Ole Miss because he was fired from Texas in January following since-dropped charges of third-degree domestic violence. The case was dismissed last month.
“I am honored to be joining the Ole Miss family and excited to get started at this great university,” Beard said in a statement. “I can’t express how grateful I am to Chancellor Boyce, Keith Carter and the rest of the search committee for their belief in me to lead this program. I am really looking forward to being an active part of the Oxford community. I know we have one of the best venues in the country in the SJB Pavilion, and we are going to work tirelessly to build a championship caliber program. I can’t wait to connect with our players and recruits and begin this journey together.”
RELATED: Chris Beard has long been the frontrunner for Ole Miss basketball
Beard has been linked to Ole Miss ever since it came open.
Ole Miss officially met with him on Monday, as first-reported by the Ole Miss Spirit.
But now Beard is, officially, the guy. He brings a lot of on-the-court success with him.
Beard first took Texas Tech to the Elite Eight and later the national championship game his second season. The Red Raiders that year won 31 games and the Big 12 title, the first in school history. They’d last won a conference title in 1996 in the Southwest Conference.
In all, Beard won 112 games in Lubbock. Texas was 22-12 in his debut season. The Longhorns were 7-1 with wins over then-Top 10 Gonzaga and Creighton in 2022 before he was dismissed.
“We are excited to welcome Coach Beard and his daughters, Avery, Ella and Margo, to the Ole Miss family,” Carter said in a statment. “We thoroughly evaluated a number of outstanding candidates, and there is no doubt Coach Beard is one of the top coaches in the nation. After conducting due diligence and speaking to a number of individuals on and off the court, it was evident he is the right person to guide our team to greatness.
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“At each stop in his career, Coach Beard has proven to be a program builder and a dynamic leader whose teams exhibit relentless effort. He is a tireless recruiter and develops talent to reach their greatest potential. He has coached at multiple levels of college basketball and has competed for championships at every school. Simply put, Coach Beard is a winner, and Ole Miss Basketball’s best years are ahead of us under his leadership.”
Ole Miss had a strong start to the 2022-23 season with a quick 6-0 record but then commenced to lose 20 of is final 25 games in the regular season, finishing next to last in the Southeastern Conference with a 3-15 conference record.
The Rebels have not been back to the NCAA Tournament since Davis took them his first season in Oxford. Only one other postseason appearance occurred under Davis, a first round exit in the 2021 NIT Tournament.
Beard is going to be tasked with making a quick turnaround of an Ole Miss program that is in need of a jump start.
