OXFORD, Miss. — When you have a good coach, the rumors seem to start with every vacancy and once again Ole Miss coach Chris Beard is having to fend off rumors he’s leaving the Rebels.
According to media reports, Beard has turned down reported interest from Texas A&M after they lost Buzz Williams to Maryland after six seasons.
The Ole Miss coach, who guided the Rebels to their second Sweet 16 appearance, will always be linked to any major opening in Texas. He coached Texas Tech and Texas before coming to Oxford.
A story by Jared Redding at Inside the Rebels and others are reporting Ole Miss is doing a new contract with Beard. That probably was expected after the run this year.
Athletics director Keith Carter is going to have to get used to it and probably is glad his coach is drawing interest for new openings. Bad coaches don’t get people trying to lure them away.
Those are the ones AD’s would love for another team to hire away. That’s not an issue with Beard and apparently Carter has found the money to get a new deal to keep him around a little longer.
“We’re at Ole Miss for a reason,” Chris Beard previously said on a March 26 show with Zach Gleb. “We believe in this place and we love this place. We’re just getting started. This is the early days in Oxford.”
Their 24 wins is tied for the second most in program history, and this year’s NCAA Tournament invite was just the school’s 10th ever. Ole Miss broke school records for numerous team stats, setting all-time bests in made threes, assist-turnover ratio, and turnovers per game, while ranking second for most steals.
In 13 seasons as a head coach, Beard has combined a carer record of 281-122, having one of the highest winning percentages of any active head coach in Division I with 10 or more seasons of work.
