Ole Miss Basketball: 3 takeaways from the hiring of head coach Chris Beard

After speculation on the subject in recent days and weeks, it was recently announced that Ole Miss Basketball was hiring Chris Beard as their next basketball coach. The program had fired Kermit Davis near the end of his fifth year at the helm just a month ago and Beard was always their top choice to take over the Rebels program.

Beard was only available because he had been fired by Texas right around New Year’s stemming from a domestic incident involving a family member. In recent weeks, the charges have been dropped and Beard is free to resume his coaching career, but Texas still moved on and continues on in the NCAA Tournament under interim coach Rodney Terry. Beard was left looking in a different direction for his future.

The argument can easily be made that Ole Miss is making a controversial decision, hiring a new coach who was in police custody just over two months ago. The image of Beard in custody isn’t something that’s going to vanish overnight, but the Rebels clearly think that his incident is in the past and he’s the best man to lead their basketball program. After how things have gone for the Rebels in recent years, they’re banking a lot on Beard being their savior.

We’ll look a little closer at Beard, at Ole Miss, and at this entire situation which will certainly ruffle some feathers around the nation of college basketball. While much of the focus is on the NCAA Tournament which begins Thursday, Ole Miss is focused on the future and get their man into place before the other major hires of this offseason. What will some of the aftereffects be of this decision?