Ole Miss hired former University of Texas at Austin basketball Head Coach Chris Beard on March 8, very shortly after his domestic violence charges — the reason he was fired from UT — were dropped. The coach has a rich history of reviving basketball programs, but does that promise of success justify overlooking some glaring red flags? For Ole Miss Athletics, it does.
After firing former Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Head Coach Kermit Davis in February, Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics Keith Carter and the athletic department sought someone who could right the ship. They landed on Beard.
On Dec. 12, 2022, Beard was arrested and charged with assault by strangulation/suffocation-family violence, a third degree felony. The same day, UT Athletics suspended him indefinitely without pay. On Jan. 5, the University of Texas fired Beard.
The charges were dropped on Feb. 15, which opened the door for Beard to seek his next coaching gig.
Ole Miss has been an afterthought in the men’s basketball world for the better part of a decade, so the school jumped at the opportunity to hire a coach who has taken multiple teams to the NCAA tournament. But at what moral cost?
Nancy Armour, a USA Today columnist who writes frequently about the intersection of sports and social issues, said, “I think the thing that you learn really quickly is that winning, or a winning record, forgives a lot of sins, and the programs are willing to overlook pretty much anything if they think a coach is going to help them improve or get them a title or get them money from alums, boosters and that type of thing.”
The timeline of everything that transpired — from Beard’s firing, to his charges being dropped, to Ole Miss firing Davis and hiring Beard — has raised eyebrows. Beard was fired at the beginning of this year, the charges were dropped a little over a month later, Davis was fired a little over a week after that and Ole Miss hired Beard less than a month later.
“You see very quickly that ethics and values are transactional,” Armour said.
Ole Miss has been glossed over in the grand scheme of men’s college basketball for some time now, which is exactly why it hired someone with the coaching pedigree of Beard.
“I think we hired him because he is a coach with a good resume, and we wanted to win more games, and having this option was one we maybe felt like we had to jump on while we had it,” Kathrine Duke, a junior accounting major, said. “I wasn’t too excited about this hire, though, because of the allegations he had against him.”
In the eyes of the law, Beard found himself with a clean slate once the charges were dropped — on paper, he became a prime candidate to lead the struggling Ole Miss Men’s Basketball team. Ole Miss Athletics conducted what it called a “thorough review” of Beard.
“People are going to believe what they’re going to believe, and some of the things we have to do now is just move forward,” Carter said, according to reporting from the Clarion Ledger. “For us, we would not be sitting here today if we didn’t feel very confident in what we know happened in that situation.”
Though the rules and laws say Ole Miss could hire Beard, the moral permissibility of hiring the embattled coach remains questionable.
“I think, as an institution, Ole Miss has the right to hire (Beard) because the (charges) were withdrawn,” graduate accounting student Ben Brashear said. “However, I do think there is justification for people being apprehensive about the hire due to the nature of the allegations and how they were handled — specifically the timing and explanation for why they were suddenly dropped.”
Randi Trew, Beard’s ex-fiancé, recanted the statement she originally gave to police and requested that the charges be dropped.
According to WAPT, “Trew called 9-1-1 in December (2022) saying Beard strangled and bit her. Beard was charged with third-degree domestic violence on Dec. 12. The Travis County, Texas, prosecutor said he decided to drop the charges in February after a review of the evidence and Trew’s wish not to press charges.”
She released a long statement that summed up why she decided to drop the charges.
“Chris and I are deeply saddened that we have brought negative attention upon our family, friends and the University of Texas, among others. As Chris’ fiancée and biggest supporter, I apologize for the role I played in this unfortunate event. I realize that my frustration, when breaking his glasses, initiated a physical struggle between Chris and myself,” Trew said. “Chris did not strangle me, and I told that to law enforcement that evening. Chris has stated that he was acting in self-defense, and I do not refute that. I do not believe Chris was trying to intentionally harm me in any way. It was never my intent to have him arrested or prosecuted. We appreciate everyone’s support and prayers during this difficult time.”
Ole Miss is no stranger to taking chances on head coaches. Take Head Football Coach Lane Kiffin, for example, who was essentially a college football outcast after being fired from each of his previous coaching gigs before finding success at Florida Atlantic. Carter and the athletics department have proven time and time again that winning is a top priority, and that goal has materialized in the early parts of the 2023-2024 season in which Beard’s Rebels are 7-0 to start the year..
“I think whenever you’re making a decision, you’re trading off goods and bads,” Nathan Oakes, an assistant professor of practice at the Ole Miss Center for Practical Ethics, said. “It’s rare that you ever have a purely good option or a purely bad option, or you wouldn’t consider them options.”
What concerns many is that Beard is tasked with leading, developing and mentoring the college basketball players that choose to attend Ole Miss; should Beard be charged with leading these young men, given his past?
“Obviously, someone who is leading people, especially youths at a really important point in their lives, you want to ensure that they are going to be responsible and a good role model. That’s largely what a coach is,” Oakes said.
College athletics is an ever-changing institution where wins are of utmost importance. Coaches’ jobs depend on wins, but so do those of athletic directors. These people face a lot of internal and external pressure to succeed.
In a September interview with The Daily Mississippian, Ole Miss Women’s Basketball Head Coach Yolette McPhee-McCuin said, “I think a lot of coaches and a lot of administrators are under a lot of pressure from fans. We live in a society now where, if the football coach doesn’t win, he’s not the only one that gets fired. Sometimes they fire the (athletic director). The athletic director has to figure out how to make fans happy.”
This hire falls into a moral and ethical gray area. Regardless of differing opinions on the situation, the truth of it all is that Beard is, and will continue to be, the Ole Miss Men’s Basketball coach.
In response to Beard’s firing from Texas, the university’s vice president of legal affairs, James E. Davis, responded to Beard’s attorney with a statement that encapsulates exactly why many have issues with Beard’s hiring at Ole Miss.
“Being a head coach at the University of Texas at Austin is about more than winning games. The privilege of coaching comes with a great responsibility that goes beyond just avoiding improper conduct. A coach is a leader — a leader who develops student athletes’ positive character, supports their education, prepares them for success in lives after graduation, and represents the University of Texas with honor and respect. A coach’s influence is effected through both professional and personal interactions,” Davis wrote.
Many think that the same sentiments should ring true for the head coaching position at Ole Miss; Beard is in charge of leading the next generation of Rebel basketball players, and some have reservations about that because of his past.
