Texas fires men's basketball coach Chris Beard
Texas, whose men's basketball program ranks sixth nationally, fired second-year coach Chris Beard on Thursday, 23 days after his arrest on a charge of domestic violence.
It curtailed a heady rise to prominence for the 49-year-old Beard, who meticulously made his way through some of the quieter realms of the sport to within seconds of the 2019 national title for Texas Tech, making it big news when he left Lubbock for Austin and his alma mater in spring 2021.
That tenure at Texas, where Beard served as a student manager under then-coach Tom Penders in the early- to mid-1990s, ended at 21 months. Beard was suspended Dec. 12, after police answered a 911 call to his house around 2 a.m. and had arrested him on a third-degree felony charge of assault on a family/household member by impeding breath or circulation. He was released on $10,000 bail.
Beard's fiancee, Randi Trew, accused him of strangling, biting and throwing her, causing bruises and bite marks, according to the police report. Beard's lawyer claimed his client's innocence, and 11 days later Trew said Beard acted in self-defense and "did not strangle me." The university conducted an investigation after which it gave Beard the option to resign, the Austin American-Statesman reported. He declined, so it fired him Thursday and named assistant Rodney Terry as interim coach.
Terry, a former coach at Fresno State and UTEP, has coached the team's past six games.
Beard has not spoken publicly since his arrest.
Beard, who graduated from high school near Houston, had coached along a hard-earned path, either as an assistant or the head man, at Incarnate Word, Abilene Christian, North Texas, Fort Scott (Kan.) Community College, Seminole State (Okla.) Junior College, Texas Tech (as an assistant for 10 years), the South Carolina Warriors semipro team, McMurry (in Abilene), Angelo State and Little Rock before reaching Texas Tech in 2016. As a No. 12 seed in the 2016 tournament, his Little Rock team upset No. 5 seed Purdue in the first round before falling to No. 4 seed Iowa State in the second.
That helped propel him toward Texas Tech, where things got headier. His Red Raiders team in 2017-18 reached the NCAA tournament Elite Eight, losing to national champion Villanova, and his third-seeded team in 2018-19 knocked off higher seeds Michigan, Gonzaga and Michigan State to reach the national championship game against Virginia in Minneapolis.
There, Texas Tech stormed from a 10-point, second-half deficit to lead 68-65 with 12 seconds left before Virginia's DeAndre Hunter hit a three-point shot from near the right corner. That sent the game to overtime, after which Virginia won, 85-77, but Texas Tech's 31-7 season and its dynamic infusion of mainstays and transfers helped make Beard the Associated Press national coach of the year.
From there, Beard coached two more seasons in Lubbock, reaching the second round of the 2021 NCAA tournament before a 68-66 loss to Arkansas. Then, on April 1 of that year, Texas snared him from Texas Tech, paying a $4 million buyout necessary for coaching moves within the Big 12. That made a rowdy event out of his return to Lubbock last Feb. 1, a 77-64 Texas Tech win satisfying to those who felt spurned. Texas finished his first season at 22-12 and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament, with the building just beginning and Beard's contract at around $5 million per year running into 2028. A firing for cause would appear to void that contract.
"This has been a difficult situation that we've been diligently working through," Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte said in a statement. "Today I informed Mr. Beard of our decision to terminate him effective immediately. We thank coach Rodney Terry for his exemplary leadership on and off the court at a time when our team needed it the most. We are grateful he will remain the acting head coach for the remainder of the season."
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