It’s an approach nearly all coaches try to do, but most won’t admit what Ole Miss’ Chris Beard did Thursday on the first week of practices.
“We’re always trying to keep our guys uncomfortable,” he said in a press conference Thursday. “Growth happens when you’re uncomfortable. You take three math quizzes and you make 100 on every one, you walk into that test thinking that it’s going to be okay. If you’re struggling, you’re probably urgent, ready and prepared, aware.”
It’s a new years and expectations are higher. Beard is selling tickets ahead of his second season with the Rebels and that’s usually a pretty good indication. He’s also added some key players from the transfer portal.
“We laid a foundation in a lot of ways this summer and the preseason,” Beard said. “From a players standpoint, you can imagine looking forward to those games and get tired of playing against each other. This is a real grind. Experienced teams, they can find that sweet spot of trying to find daily improvement, whether it be in the weight room or individual film room, team practice whether it would be drill work, live play. It’s about improving, and that’s the bottom line.”
More than anything, it’s trying to make things where the games could be easier for the players to deal with than practices.
“We have a drill we do almost every day with four guarding five,” Beard said. “It’s really difficult to do that. That’s self-made adversity before you even start. But if you think about it, in basketball, there’s all sorts of possessions where four have to guard five.”
And nobody, regardless of experience, is immune from being coached really hard.
“I try to coach our best players the hardest, because it’s what the best players want,” he said. “You have to be able to coach your best player the hardest to be in championship contention. That would be adversity to somebody like a Matthew Murrell or Sean Pedulla or JuJu. It doesn’t matter if they’re having their best day or their worst, they know they’re going to hear it from me.”
Ole Miss will officially open up the 2024-25 season on Monday, Nov. 4 against Long Island inside the SJB Pavilion. The lower bowl is sold out, Beard said.
