March Madness is right around the corner, but one team that won't be partaking in the festivities is Ole Miss. The Rebels finished with just a 12-21 record, and fired their head coach Kermit Davis midway through the season as a result of their struggles. With the season over, Ole Miss needs a new head coach, and it looks like they have found their guy in Chris Beard.
Beard has enjoyed successful stints with Arkansas-Little Rock, Texas Tech, and Texas, but was fired from Texas after he was arrested on a domestic violence charge. The charges have since been dropped, but nobody figured Beard would be returning to coach basketball anytime soon. But Ole Miss decided otherwise, and they are expected to make the move official over the next day or so.
Via Jeff Goodman:
Article Continues Below“BREAKING: Ole Miss is expected to hire former Texas coach Chris Beard within the next 24-48 hours, source told Stadium.”
This is a pretty surprising move from Ole Miss given the accusations that Beard has faced over the past few months. While he isn't being charged for domestic violence after his arrest, it typically takes awhile for folks to come back from an accusation like this. But the Rebels must feel good about Beard to have hired him so soon after these events transpired.
Regardless, with Beard onboard, he will now be looking to turnaround Ole Miss' basketball program and find a way to get them back into the NCAA tournament, with their most recent appearance coming back in 2019. Beard has had success during his previous stints as a coach, but it will be interesting to see how his tenure with Ole Miss plays out now.