CHRIS BEARD
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas fired basketball coach Chris Beard on Thursday, telling his lawyer he’s “unfit” for the place whereas he faces a felony home household violence cost stemming from a Dec. 12 incident involving his fiancee.
Beard had 5 years left on a seven-year assured contract that included a provision he may very well be fired for trigger if he was charged with a felony or dedicated different habits unbecoming of his place or that mirrored poorly on the college.
The cost of assault by strangulation/suffocation household violence carries a doable jail sentence of two to 10 years if convicted; the lady instructed police Beard strangled and bit her, however later denied he choked her.
Beard had been suspended with out pay since he was arrested, and college officers had stated there was an inner investigation.
The college’s vp of authorized affairs, Jim Davis, wrote in a letter to Beard’s lawyer Thursday that Beard engaged in “unacceptable habits that makes him unfit to function head coach at our college.” Whether or not prosecutors proceed with the case doesn’t decide whether or not Beard engaged in conduct unbecoming of the varsity, Davis wrote.
Police responded to an emergency name at Beard’s home after midnight on Dec. 12 and arrested him after Beard’s fiancee, Randi Trew, instructed officers he choked her from behind, bit her and hit her when the 2 obtained in an argument.
The Related Press doesn’t sometimes determine alleged victims of maximum violence, however Trew issued a public assertion on Dec. 23 through which she denied telling police Beard choked her. She additionally stated she by no means supposed for him to be arrested or prosecuted.
“Chris didn’t strangle me, and I instructed that to regulation enforcement that night,” Trew stated in her assertion. “Chris has said that he was appearing in self-defense, and I don’t refute that. I don’t imagine Chris was attempting to deliberately hurt me in any means.”
Trew’s assertion didn’t handle why she made the emergency name or different particulars within the police report, comparable to chew marks on her arm and abrasions on her face, and telling officers that she couldn’t breathe for about 5 seconds.
Beard’s lawyer, Perry Minton, has stated the coach is harmless and pointed to Trew’s assertion in a letter despatched early Thursday to the college, through which Minton pressed the varsity to maintain Beard.
“Coach Beard has not achieved something to violate any provision of his contract with the College of Texas,” Minton wrote, including he expects the costs to be dropped.
Minton’s letter additionally stated Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte “has repeatedly reported to our group that he’s sure that Chris Beard did nothing incorrect — and is harmless.” It additionally stated that Texas officers instructed Beard to resign or be fired.
The college stated Del Conte supported a “pause” of suspending Beard earlier than firing him to see what information could come out. That ought to not have been taken as a dedication of the coach’s conduct, Davis stated.
“Your letter this morning reveals that Mr. Beard doesn’t perceive the importance of the habits he is aware of he engaged in, or the following occasions that impair his capacity to successfully lead our program,” Davis wrote within the faculty’s termination letter.
“This lack of self-awareness is one more failure of judgement that makes Mr. Beard unfit to function a head coach at our college,” Davis wrote.
In accordance with the arrest affidavit, Trew initially instructed police that she and Beard that they had been in an argument the place she broke his glasses earlier than he “simply snapped on me and have become tremendous violent.” Police reported Trew stated Beard slapped her glasses off her face and “choked me, bit me, bruises throughout my leg, throwing me round and going nuts.”
The Travis County district lawyer’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon Beard’s case or whether or not Trew’s Dec. 23 assertion would change how prosecutors proceed with the felony cost. A Jan. 18 court docket listening to is scheduled, based on on-line data.
“Chris Beard is crushed on the information he won’t be teaching on the College of Texas,” Minton stated after the firing was introduced. “I’m involved that the College of Texas has made a horrible resolution towards the curiosity of the College, based mostly on Twitter feeds and editorials — and never the information regarding a really harmless man.”
Beard led Texas Tech to the 2019 NCAA Event championship recreation and was employed at Texas in 2021 with the expectation that he would raise his alma mater to the identical elite stage. He had the Longhorns program buzzing this season, beginning 6-0 and ranked as excessive as No. 2.
Affiliate head coach Rodney Terry took Beard’s place through the suspension, and Del Conte stated Thursday that Terry would stay appearing head coach by means of the remainder of this season.
“We thank Coach Rodney Terry for his exemplary management each on and off the court docket at a time when our group wanted it most,” Del Conte stated. “We’re pleased with our student-athletes, coaches and workers, who all through this troublesome time have continued to make us proud to be Longhorns.”
The Longhorns (12-2, 1-1 Large 12) gained their first 5 video games underneath Terry earlier than shedding 116-103 to Kansas State on Tuesday.
A Texas graduate, Beard spent 10 seasons at Texas Tech as an assistant underneath Bob Knight from 2001-2011, then returned there as head coach in 2016.
He was 112-55 in 5 seasons with the Purple Raiders and was named The The Related Press coach of the 12 months in 2019 as he guided Texas Tech to a 31-7 end and misplaced in an additional time thriller to Virginia within the nationwide championship recreation.
As quickly as he landed in Austin, Beard got down to rebuild a program from the bottom up, altering the roster and attempting to whip up new enthusiasm for this system as he engaged with college students and sometimes held comedic “hearth chats” on campus. In his first season, he led Texas to a first-round victory over Virginia Tech that was the Longhorns’ first NCAA Event win since 2014.
