NCAA Basketball: Texas, Big Ten, and College of Charleston headline key storylines

Will Texas still be okay after firing Chris Beard?  Who may get that job?

I have some strong feelings about this and this question has been asked to me by my friends and family over the last few days. I have given them all the same answer I am going to give you. Texas had no choice but to fire Coach Beard. Whether you believe he is guilty or not is irrelevant in this conversation. I do not claim to be an expert on contracts and I have not seen the wording of many.

I do not know if there is always wording about committing a crime being grounds for termination in contracts. I do know that that wording was specifically included in the contract for Coach Beard and it was included in the contract for a reason. Coach Beard was in violation of his contract with Texas and was fired for cause. He will get none of the remaining money in his contract.

That leads us to the question of if Texas will be “fine?” The Longhorns have one of the most talented rosters in the country and they have one of the best defenses in the country as well. Beard has been off the sidelines for about a month total and the Longhorns are 6-1 in games without their coach. New coach Rodney Terry is still using the same rotations, same defense, and same offensive strategies that coach Beard used. The only difference is that the head coach all of those players signed up to play for is no longer in Austin.

Unless the bottom completely falls out and the Longhorns don’t win again there is no way they do not finish in the top half of the Big 12. They are going to have a quad 1 opportunity every night and if they continue on this trajectory will likely be protected seed in the NCAA tournament. Fear, not Longhorn fans the team is still continuing to win and put a good product on the court.

Who is going to get the job, or who will be on the shortlist for the job?  This is an interesting question because Texas is one of the better jobs in the country. They have an athletic department that is going to give them total support, and a brand new arena, they play in the best conference in college basketball, have tradition, have their own network which is a great promotion for NIL deals, and right now have a culture of winning. The list of suitors is likely going to be large and if current interim head coach Rodney Terry does well you have to think he is going to get a long look from the administration.

There has been one rumor floating around that seems more and more plausible by the day. John Calipari, who is one of the best coaches and recruiters in the country, could desperately need a change of scenery and Texas is going to be open. That feels like a fantastic match even if I was skeptical of it when it was first announced. No matter who gets the job they will have tremendous resources while in Austin, and they better win or they will replace them with someone bigger and better, just ask Shaka Smart.