Chris Beard wants Ole Miss hoops to ‘do our part’ in overall athletic standing
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Chris Beard wants to do his part at Ole Miss. Not just from a basketball perspective, but from an athletics perspective.
Ole Miss baseball won a national title a few years ago. The football team under Lane Kiffin has been consistently ranked for a few years and is looking as good as ever in 2023.
And Beard wants the Rebels hoops team in that same discussion, if not leading it.
The former Texas Tech head coach has seen success at every stop he’s made so far. He took Little Rock to the 2nd round in 2016, was the national runner-up at Tech in 2019 and cracked the Elite 8 the season prior to that. He was only at Texas for one year but still led the Longhorns to a 2nd round appearance.
He’s missed the Big Dance just once: his first year at Texas Tech in 2017. He’s looking to lead Ole Miss to its first NCAA Tournament win since 2015 this season.
On Wednesday, Beard told reporters that even though it’s easier said than done, the Rebels have plenty of optimism that the program will be elevated sooner rather than later.
“Our team will be a mix of three categories. Have a great fan base. Ole Miss is kind of hot right now. Football team, women’s basketball, baseball, the Olympic sports. We want to do our part with men’s basketball,” Beard said. “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. We’re early in our journey. We’re fighting time more than anything. Yesterday was I think our 15th practice. We’re excited.”
Ole Miss tips off the Chris Beard era officially on Nov. 6 against Alabama State.
Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.
