Ole Miss ‘met with’ former Texas basketball HC Chris Beard

It didn’t take very long for another Division I college basketball program to pursue the recently-fired Texas basketball head coach Chris Beard for the same role.

According to a report from On3’s OMSpirit on the morning of March 6, Ole Miss “met with Beard regarding their coaching vacancy”. Ole Miss is looking to fill its head coach position after parting ways with the now-former fifth-year head coach Kermit Davis. The Rebels fired Davis last month after he went just 10-18 in the first 28 games of this season at Ole Miss.

Davis finished up his five years as Ole Miss’s head coach with a record of 74-79 (.484 winning percentage), with just one NCAA Tournament appearance. He led the Rebels to an NCAA Tournament appearance during his first year at the helm in Oxford, during the 2018-19 season.

Moreover, Ole Miss is clearly making some pretty quick moves to find its next head coach in the midst of the closing stages of the 2022-23 college hoops season.

Ole Miss reportedly held a meeting with former Texas basketball head coach Chris Beard for their head coach opening

Here’s more on what this On3/OMSpirit report had to say on the matter of Ole Miss meeting with Beard to fill its head coaching vacancy.

"After being dismissed by Texas, many assumed it would only be a matter of time before he once again became a candidate after his domestic violence charge was dropped. However, not many expected it to be as soon as this.That’s because, per reports from OMSpirit, Beard met with Ole Miss today regarding their head coaching vacancy. After firing Kermit Davis at the end of last month, it appears the Rebels are ready to make a run quickly at a coach like Beard, regardless of any baggage that may be coming with him."

Beard spent two years at the helm as Texas’ head coach, prior to getting placed on unpaid leave and then getting fired in early January 2023. This all came following a Dec. 12, 2022, arrest at his home in Travis County only felony domestic assault charges.

But the charges would wind up getting dropped by the Travis County district attorney’s office on Feb. 15.

Beard finished up with a record of 29-13 (.690 winning percentage) with the Longhorns over the course of a little under two years. He’s also coached five years for the Texas Tech Red Raiders and one year for the Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans in his time as a Division 1 college head coach.

Since Beard’s departure a couple of months ago, Rodney Terry has led the way for the Longhorns as the interim head coach. Terry led the Longhorns to a record of 16-7 to close out the regular season. Texas heads into the Big 12 Tournament as a two-seed this week after finishing up the regular season with a record of 23-8 (12-6 Big 12).