Rick Pitino Gives Suggestion For Indiana Basketball Coaching Search

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – If the Indiana basketball coaching search was simply about hiring the best coach, Rick Pitino may be at the top of the list. But there are other factors that narrow down the options.

For Pitino, the likely disqualifier is that he’s 72 years old. If Indiana was looking for a short-term, win-now option, Pitino would be an excellent choice. There’s no denying his coaching credentials.

Pitino has St. John’s ranked No. 10 in the nation in his second season, along with two national titles and seven Final Four appearances with Providence, Kentucky and Louisville. He also took Iona to the NCAA Tournament twice.

But as Indiana looks to return to its glory days of the 20th century and get out of the coaching carousel that’s resulted in five coaches since 2000, it’s likely looking for a younger option. Pitino appeared on Friday’s episode of Pardon My Take, a sports comedy podcast on Barstool Sports, and discussed the Indiana job.

Pitino was asked if he, or anyone in his world, has been contacted by Indiana about its open head coaching position.

"No. No one. I've had a lot of contacts with professional teams right now from Europe who are dying to have me back," Pitino said, laughing, at the 1:14:20 mark of the podcast.

He proceeded to put himself in Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson’s shoes and gave a suggestion for the Hoosiers’ next coach.

"Can I give you my pick?" Pitino said. "Okay, so I'm going to have some people upset at me. If I was the AD at Indiana – and am I friendly with this person? Yes I am. Do I have a lot of respect for this person? Yes I do – but I would immediately, not even interview anybody else, and hire one of the premier coaches in all of college basketball. And that's Chris Beard from Ole Miss.

“I wouldn’t even think about another person. He’s perfect for that job. 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. Remember, he brought Texas Tech to the championship game, and could have won it if that young man didn’t hit that, from Virginia, that corner shot, great shot that he did it. So [Beard] is a superstar, top three coach, in my estimation. I would never hire myself for that job, for Indiana, because I belong at St. John’s.”

Beard is in his second season at Ole Miss, which is ranked No. 24 in the nation at 19-7 overall and tied for sixth in the SEC standings at 8-5. The Rebels went 20-12 overall and 7-11 in Beard’s first season, missing the NCAA Tournament. Barring a collapse, he’ll coach Ole Miss to its first back-to-back 20-win seasons since 2016-17, following a 74-79 run with three losing seasons under Kermit Davis.

Before becoming a head coach, Beard was an associate head coach at Texas Tech from 2001-11 under former Hall of Fame Indiana coach Bob Knight, who was the Red Raiders’ head coach from 2001-08. Knight’s son, Pat, was also an assistant from 2001-08, before taking over for his father as Texas Tech’s head coach from 2008-11.

Beard 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.

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

Beard made a name for himself nationally when he led No. 12 seed Arkansas Little-Rock to a double-overtime upset victory over No. 5 seed Purdue in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. One 30-5 season in Little Rock landed Beard the Texas Tech job, where he reached the 2018 Elite Eight and was the 2019 national runner-up. The Red Raiders went 112-55 overall and 49-40 in the Big 12 with three NCAA Tournament appearances and one conference title in five seasons.

A rising star in the coaching world at that 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 would likely perform a similar background check, if it were to consider hiring Beard.

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