Ole Miss coach Chris Beard on Arkansas win
What Ole Miss basketball coach Chris Beard said after Arkansas win.
OXFORD — Former Texas Tech head coach and longtime Chris Beard assistant Mark Adams is set to join Beard’s staff with Ole Miss basketball, according to multiple reports.
Adams worked as an assistant under Beard at Little Rock before following him to Texas Tech. When Beard left to take the Texas job in 2021, Adams succeeded him as head coach. He brought the Red Raiders to the Sweet 16 in 2021-22.
In 2022-23, Texas Tech suspended Adams before the beginning of the Big 12 Tournament for what it described in a news release as the “use of an inappropriate, unacceptable and racially insensitive comment.”
“Adams was encouraging (a) student-athlete to be more receptive to coaching and referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents and slaves serving their masters,” the release read.
Adams resigned from his post the same week.
“My lifelong goal was to help and be a positive influence on my players, and to be a part of the Texas Tech men’s basketball team,” Adams said in a statement at the time. “However, both the university and I believe this incident has become a distraction for the Texas Tech men’s basketball team and the university, which I care about so deeply.”
The Rebels finished 20-12 under Beard’s purview last season, contending for an NCAA Tournament bid for most of the season before a disastrous stretch run doomed them.
Beard arrived in Oxford in March 2023, months after he was fired at Texas following a domestic incident involving his then-fiancee. The felony charge against Beard was later dropped.
SETTLEMENT: Texas Tech, Adams agree to $4.1 million settlement
David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.