BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Chris Beard is an SEC basketball coach, but a year earlier than expected and at Ole Miss instead of Texas.
Rather than leading the Longhorns into the SEC next season when Texas and Oklahoma are joining the conference, Beard now has the task of winning big at Ole Miss -- as he has at each of his previous five stops.
That includes Beard's 30-5 record as coach of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock during his lone season there in 2015-16. The Trojans upset the Purdue Boilermakers in the NCAA Tournament that season.
"Always have great memories thinking back to the state of Arkansas," Beard said at SEC media days. "Our team at Little Rock was really special. Our team is connected today.
"We've already had several of our [UALR] players visit us in Oxford the first few months."
At Texas, Beard was suspended without pay, then fired in January during his second season after he was arrested and charged with felony domestic violence involving a woman who was his fiancee at the time.
The case against Beard later was dismissed when the woman recanted her story to police and the prosecutor's office determined the domestic violence charge could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Beard, 50, now has a fresh start at Ole Miss, where he was hired on March 13 to replace Kermit Davis.
"Ole Miss is kind of hot right now," Beard said. "Football team, women's basketball, baseball, the Olympic sports. We want to do our part with men's basketball.
"Easy to sit up here and talk about, very difficult to do. But we have a lot of optimism. I think we've got good players."
Among the Rebels' newcomers is Allen Flanigan, a fifth-year senior guard from Little Rock Parkview who played the previous four seasons at Auburn.
Wes Flanigan, Allen's father, was an assistant for Beard at UALR, replaced him as head coach, then after being fired, was an assistant at Auburn. He's now back with Beard as an Ole Miss assistant.
"Wes Flanigan is a huge, huge addition to our staff," Beard said. "What we built together and experienced at Little Rock was special. ... I'm blessed to not only have a great coach back on our staff, but one of my best friends."
Allen Flanigan, who also represented Ole Miss at SEC media days, said he's excited about playing for Beard.
"Seeing him come to Little Rock and change that college team around in one year was amazing," Flanigan said. "Watching that ride and being a part of it with my dad was great."
Beard was hired by Ole Miss Athletic Director Keith Carter, who is from Perryville and was an All-SEC guard for the Rebels.
"I've been blessed my whole career to work with some great administrators," Beard said. "No exception with Keith.
"Not only did the guy play SEC basketball, but he was really, really good. That's cool having a basketball guy [as athletic director]. I actually called him the other night after practice and asked him a basketball question. That's unique.
"We know we have a long way to go to build the program, but there's no denying there's a vision. There's a vision internally within our program, within the administration, within the city of Oxford.
"I really believe in the state of Mississippi. Everybody wants Ole Miss and Mississippi State to be good. It's been great working with Keith so far."
Allen Flanigan said he's confident Beard and his father can help Ole Miss turn around its program after the Rebels were a combined 23-37 the previous two seasons, including 6-27 in SEC games.
"It'll be a sight to see this year in Oxford," Flanigan said. "We feel very confident in ourselves that we can get the job done, and Coach Beard believes in us too.
"I'm highly confident in everything Coach Beard says. I believe in the same things he believes in."
University of Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman has faced Beard three times.
Beard's Texas Tech team beat Musselman's Nevada team 82-76 in overtime in Lubbock during the 2017-18 season. Musselman's Arkansas beat Texas Tech 68-66 in a second-round NCAA Tournament game in 2021 in what turned out to be Beard's last game with the Red Raiders before he took the Texas job.
Last season Arkansas played an exhibition game at Texas and the Longhorns won 90-60.
"Coach Beard is one of the best coaches in college basketball," Musselman said at SEC media days. "Everywhere he goes, he wins.
"His teams play with great toughness. You better be able to get loose balls against his teams, and you have to figure out a way to score. Great, great defensive coach.
"Schematically he's really hard to prepare for. He's gets his guys to play with maximum effort."
Beard has a 237-98 record at McMurry, Angelo State, UALR, Texas Tech and Texas, and he has led his previous three programs to a combined six NCAA Tournament appearances in seven full seasons. His Red Raiders made an appearance in the 2019 championship game when they lost to the Virginia Cavaliers 85-79 in overtime.
Texas was 7-1 last season when Beard was suspended.
"I think Coach Beard's success is because he's a no-BS guy," Allen Flanigan said. "He doesn't tolerate the BS. He puts together a plan, and we stick to it.
"Whatever we have planned for that week, that's what we're going to get done, and we're going to do it with 110% effort."
Tennessee Coach Rick Barnes was Texas' coach for 17 seasons.
"Chris did an unbelievable job at Texas Tech, did a great job at Texas," Barnes said at SEC media days. "He was building that program, putting his footprint there, wanting it to get done.
"He will do an outstanding job at Ole Miss. I don't care where he's coaching, he's going to do an outstanding job."
Beard's teams have averaged 21.6 victories in his first season at five head coaching jobs.
"We've always had high expectations for first-year teams," Beard said. "I told the players the other day, expectations are the biggest gift you can give anyone."
Beard said he's been building trust with his new team.
"A lot of it comes down to just discipline to me," he said. "With relationships, it's all about doing what you say you're going to do, repeatedly.
"When things are good, stay steady, stay humble. When things are tough, there's going to be a lot of adversity. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.
"When things get tough, be who you are, don't change. We've got a long way to go. We're just building this thing.
"But there are a lot of positive signs right now in our organization because guys are doing what they're supposed to be doing."