Bottom line is Anton Beard deserved a second chance, even if it is one where there is zero wiggle room.
Step on a crack, and he breaks his basketball back.
His reinstatement has nothing to do with him being the only returning starter for the Arkansas Razorbacks basketball team. Yes, he is almost invaluable if this year's team is going to have any semblance of success.
The outlook for this season, to start with, is not very good with four starters lost from last season's 27-9 team that made it to the NCAA Tournament. Plus, Jacorey Williams, the first man off the bench last season, was also mixed up in passing of counterfeit bills and has transferred to Middle Tennessee.
Head Coach Mike Anderson won't use lack of returning players as an excuse -- he has to be positive and that appears to be his nature -- but it will be difficult to replace those guys, especially the four starters who provided not only talent but experience.
Beard was treated like any other student.
If a member of the band got caught passing some funny money and made a deal with the courts to enter a treatment program he wouldn't have been banned from the band for a whole year either.
Beard made headlines because he is a basketball player.
Truth is, he didn't run from the trouble he got into. He re-enrolled at the UA in August and started going to classes.
He's been seen playing pickup basketball everywhere there was a game except Bud Walton Arena.
His Dec. 19 return will be a plus -- even though he probably will have to earn his starting role back -- but don't expect him to suddenly make the Hogs a NCAA Tournament team.
He's a point guard who as a true freshman played in 35 games and started 16. He had 53 assists and 32 turnovers. He averaged 5.7 points and 18.9 minutes per game.
He's young and has a lot of growing to do as a man and player and he now has a shot at both. It is entirely up to him what he does with this opportunity.
...
Monday night John Brady made it official, announcing that this will be his last season as the head basketball coach at Arkansas State.
Brady, 61, has been a head coach for 25 years and holds a winning record at all three schools where he coached, although there is a lot of basketball to be played this season and the ASU Red Wolves are 111-110 under Brady.
Brady, a fiery competitor, is best known for his 11 seasons at LSU, although most forget he was hired from Samford to come in an clean up a program that had been slammed by the NCAA for recruiting violations. Saying his first two seasons at LSU were tough would be like saying he was pretty good at recruiting.
Focusing on homegrown talent Brady had a breakout season in 1999-2000 when he led the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, but standout Stromile Swift left after that season. Brady practically started over, but by 2006 he had returned to the NCAA Tournament three more times and that season made the Final Four.
Two years later, before the season ended, his rocky relationship with former head baseball coach and then Athletic Director Skip Bertman blew up and Brady was fired. He had an emotionally charged news conference, losing the fight against crying several times.
Brady didn't badmouth anyone at LSU, nor has he at ASU.
Most likely Brady will move to New Orleans after this season, but just as he intended he is going out on his terms.
He is giving ASU Athletic Director Terry Mohajir a full season to find his replacement, and that was a classy move.
Sports on 11/18/2015