White privilege will always be a part of Chris Beard’s story, but that’s because of his race. However, his ability to remain hirable is due to his talent…and his race.
Amid a college football-shaking sign-stealing scandal, the start of the NBA season, LSU’s women’s team being wiped out by Colorado, and weekly NFL events, even the most avid sports fan has Perhaps forgotten that the return of college basketball means Chris Beard is back as coach – too bad for women of faith.
Friday night, Ole Miss will face Eastern Washington in its second game of the seasonas they look to go 2-0 after beating Alabama State 69-59 in their season opener.
“First of all, it all depends on the players” Beard said after the game in an attempt to deflect attention. “I always feel that on opening night…They work so hard. Summer, preseason, practices, and then you get to game nights and you just don’t want it to backfire on you.
“I don’t think there’s any place anyone would rather be right now than Oxford, Mississippi,” he said.
This would not have been the case if Beard had not left Austin, Texas.
“(Beard) was guilty of ‘unacceptable behavior that renders him unfit to serve as head coach at our university,'” Jim Davis, Texas Vice President of Legal Affairs, spoke about the school’s decision to fire him for cause in January. Beard was involved in a domestic violence arrest with his fiancée, which later turned into a “she said he didn’t do it” situation.
“He choked me, threw me off the bed, bit me, bruised all over my leg, threw me and went crazy,” his fiancee told police after the incident.
Because of his talent as a basketball coach and the advantages of being a white man in America, any intelligent person knew that Beard would be hired again sooner rather than later. A few months later, Ole Miss came calling. During his introductory press conference, Beard was asked if he had put his arm across his fiancée’s throat. The coward refused to answer.
“Randi and I agreed not to talk about the details of not only that night, but the nights we went through this process,” he said. “But what I can tell you is that much of what was reported was not accurate, and that was proven not only by the dismissal of the case, the dropping of charges, but also by Randi’s statement on December 23.”
The charges against Beard were dropped largely because his fiancee wanted them to be. “While I have always had faith and trust in the truth and this outcome, it has been extremely difficult to wait patiently and not respond publicly. I am sorry and deeply remorseful to my family, friends, all of my players and staff, newest and oldest, and everyone at my alma mater, the University of Texas,” he wrote in a statement that allowed Ole Miss to come in and pick him up like it was nothing.
“What we learned was that the initial reports were not accurate and did not accurately reflect the events that occurred” Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter said during Beard’s introductory news conference.. “We had conversations on many levels with a number of people around that night, and Coach Beard was extremely transparent in our discussions with him.”
According to local points of sale, two of Beard’s daughters were on stage with him that day. His fiancée was not. This is the man Ole Miss fans will be cheering for.
In college athletics, coaches have all the power. The identity of a program is directly linked to whoever denounces it. And in Mississippi, Chris Beard was deemed appropriate to determine how this program will be run. This isn’t just a bad look for Ole Miss, it’s a bad look for college basketball.