Indiana Basketball Coach Search: Ole Miss’ Chris Beard

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – As we’ve written about the Indiana basketball coach search over the last few weeks, a few fan favorites have emerged.

First it was Brad Stevens and Dusty May, but they’re out of the running now. The name that pops up the most in social media comments sections, regardless of who the article is about, is Ole Miss coach Chris Beard.

He carries an impressive resume, from early days as an assistant coach under Bob Knight at Texas Tech to a memorable upset in the NCAA Tournament with Arkansas-Little Rock. Since becoming a high-major head coach, he’s reached the national championship game and Elite Eight, and now he’s on the verge of the winningest season at Ole Miss in over a decade.

However, Beard’s firing from Texas due to a domestic violence incident has made him a divisive candidate among Indiana fans.

So far, we’ve broken down potential candidates such as Scott Drew, T.J. Otzelberger, Mick Cronin, Greg McDermott, Bruce Pearl, Chris Jans, Nate Oats, Darian DeVries and Grant McCasland, as well as May and Stevens, who are no longer options. We’ll continue to discuss more options in a coaching search that could last another month.

Here’s a closer look at Beard.

What makes Beard an attractive choice for Indiana

Ole Miss was coming off two losing seasons with just seven total wins in SEC play prior to hiring Beard ahead of the 2023-24 season. But Beard flipped the roster with nine new players and went 20-12, the program’s most wins in five seasons. The Rebels have taken another step forward this season, with a 19-8 overall record and an 8-6 mark in an extremely competitive SEC.

That’s put Ole Miss in position for its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019 and on pace for its most wins since 2013. However, the Rebels have fallen out of the AP Top 25 poll after back-to-back losses to Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. They have a daunting schedule ahead, with three of their last four regular season games against top-five teams Auburn, Tennessee and Florida.

Ole Miss’ offense was much stronger than its defense last season, but it’s been far more balanced on both ends of the court this year, ranking 18th nationally in defensive efficiency and 36th in offensive efficiency. Its offense has the lowest turnover percentage in the nation but ranks outside the top 100 in 3-point and 2-point percentage. The Rebels are tough to defend because six players average double-digit points, and their two most frequent 3-point shooters make over 39% of their attempts. Ole Miss ranks in the middle of the pack nationally in tempo and 3-point attempt rate.

Beard has engineered a massive turnaround with Ole Miss’ defense, going from 141st nationally in defensive efficiency last year to a top-20 unit this year. The Rebels defense ranks top 25 in turnover percentage, block percentage and steal percentage.

Beard broke out on the national stage when his No.12 seed Arkansas-Little Rock team upset Purdue in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. A 30-5 record that year landed Beard the Texas Tech job in 2016-17. The Red Raiders went 19-13 the year before Beard arrived, but the program was not in a good place with five straight losing seasons before that.

It took a season to get things off the ground, going 18-14 in year one, but Beard led Texas Tech to a 27-10 record and a second-place Big 12 finish at 11-7 in his second season. The Red Raiders earned a No. 3 seed and made a run to the Elite Eight, defeating No. 6 seed Florida and No. 2 seed Purdue.

Beard’s best season came in 2018-19, going 31-7 with a Big 12 title and a national-runner up finish, including tournament wins over No. 2 seeds Michigan and Michigan State and No. 1 seed Gonzaga. Texas Tech ranked first nationally in defensive efficiency that year and fourth the year before, along with 25th and 50th in offensive efficiency, respectively.

At just 52 years old, Beard could be a long-term solution for Indiana. He’s had some of the nation’s best defenses at multiple schools, and his offenses have been solid. He was named AP national coach of the year in 2019 and Big 12 coach of the year in 2018 and 2019. His overall record as a coach is 275-117, good for a .702 win percentage. Beard’s time as an associate head coach under Bob Knight at Texas Tech from 2001-11 may be appealing to Indiana.

He also recently received a glowing endorsement from national champion head coach Rick Pitino.

“I wouldn’t even think about another person. He’s perfect for that job,” Pitino said on the Pardon My Take podcast. “He’s a tough, hard-nosed [coach]. The years I was sitting out, I got friendly with him because he asked me to – he didn’t know me, I didn’t know him – to come out and speak to his team. He was at Texas Tech, and I went out and spoke to him, but I watched two days of practice. And I always judge a coach by his practices, and I have to tell you, those are some of the best practices and meetings with his team that I’ve ever witnessed. So I’m a gigantic fan of Chris Beard, and I think he would kill it at Indiana. He’d have them in the top five to seven every year.”

Why Indiana wouldn’t hire Beard

A rising star in the coaching world at the time, Beard left Texas Tech for the Texas job in 2021. The Longhorns went 22-12 with a fourth-place Big 12 finish in his first season and lost in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 as a No. 6 seed to No. 3 seed Purdue.

But after a 7-1 start to his second season, Texas suspended Beard without pay in December 2022 and fired him in January 2023. Beard was charged with assault by strangulation/suffocation - family violence, a third degree felony, according to an Austin Police Department release.

Beard’s fiancée, Randi Trew, told police the night of the arrest that Beard, "choked me, bit me, bruises all over my leg, throwing me around, and going nuts.” Trew later said in a statement that she initiated a physical struggle, and that Beard did not strangle her and was acting in self-defense. In February 2023, the third-degree felony charge was dismissed.

Ole Miss hired Beard the following season, and athletic director Keith Carter said the school was extremely thorough in its review of Beard.

"Those allegations we take very, very seriously, obviously," Carter said. "And it's so important that we gained a clear understanding of that situation. What we learned was that the initial reports were not an accurate reflection of the events that happened. We had multi-level conversations with a number of people surrounding that night, and coach Beard was extremely transparent in our discussions with him."

Indiana will likely go through a similar background check to determine if it feels comfortable looking past these allegations and hiring Beard. Coaching ability is obviously an important factor in the hiring process, but so is every candidate’s personality. It’s up to Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson and the search firm to weigh those factors.

Strictly from a coaching standpoint, Indiana may also be concerned that Beard’s Texas Tech teams regressed immediately after reaching the national championship game with records of 18-13 and 18-11 in his final two seasons, including an 18-17 run in Big 12 play.

Is Beard a realistic candidate for Indiana?

The timing of some of Beard’s comments this season suggest he wants the Indiana job. He has spoken several times in the past about Knight’s impact on his coaching career, most recently during a halftime interview on ESPN as Ole Miss led Kentucky, 54-31, on Feb. 4, just three days before Indiana announced coach Mike Woodson would be stepping down at the end of the season.

"That's Bob Knight. Victory favors the most aggressive team, and the team that makes the fewest mistakes," Beard said.

The SEC has been by far the toughest conference in the country this season, and despite some success this year, Ole Miss has a ways to go to catch up with the conference powers. So it might be a good time for Beard to leave the SEC for a high-status job like Indiana, if offered.

The bigger question is whether Indiana would hire him due to the scandal that got him fired at Texas. Think of it this way. Indiana fired Knight, a three-time national champion, for violating a zero-tolerance policy with an “unacceptable pattern of behavior.”

Given that history, would Indiana hire another coach with allegations of abuse? That can only be determined by doing its due diligence in looking into Beard’s background. But it seems like a long shot, despite the appeal of his coaching credentials.

What makes Beard an attractive choice for Indiana

Why Indiana wouldn’t hire Beard

Is Beard a realistic candidate for Indiana?

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