John Fanta
college basketball broadcaster and reporter
Just 25 days ago, the Texas Longhorns men’s team was 7-1 and ranked second in college basketball. The consensus was that the program had finally found a foothold with the leader, Chris Beard, an alumnus of the school and considered one of the best coaches in the sport.
Thursday afternoon, one of the most shocking downfalls of a coaching tenure in recent memory officially came to an end.
UT Athletic Director Chris Del Conte announced Beard’s dismissal amid felony domestic violence charges stemming from the Dec. 12 incident.
[Related: Texas fires Chris Beard amid felony domestic violence charge]
This is turbulent news in college basketball, and various measures are being taken to respond. Let’s start with this: Beard was once the proud son of Texas basketball. Felonies and shootings are at an all-time low.
There is no doubt that his tenure is off to an unimaginably good start. But one night, in the space of a few hours on a Monday morning in December, his whole life was hit hard. The state of basketball in Texas, which has long felt like a program trying to find a suitable leader, is hanging that question mark again in the most unlikely way. It’s back to the drawing board for the Longhorns, with all-important hiring in store for reasons more important than basketball.
As for the program itself, the player’s feelings must be felt. Lost in all of this chaos, they didn’t sign up for this and actually managed to maintain his top 10 ranking in the AP polls. Even more shocking is what happened while he was in charge of one of the best teams in the .
As for where the Longhorns go from here, Del Conte announced that second-year associate head coach Rodney Terry will continue as acting head coach for the remainder of the season. Thanks to Terry for putting the team together. It will be interesting to see how this Longhorns team fare in the Big 12. The Big 12 is arguably the best conference in college basketball.
To put the big picture in perspective, I asked double-digit head coaches across the nation where they would rank Texas’ job in the sport.
Each ranked the top 10 jobs nationwide.
For reference, an article published by Go Banking Rates last year put Texas in 18th place with spending of $11,649,912. Combining resources and brands with the Moody Center’s brand new state-of-the-art home arena, Longhorns is certainly well-positioned for success.
In fact, the coaching carousel has a clear frontrunner at the moment, and barring other shocking circumstances, that won’t change until the Longhorns have a new leader.
But I can’t help but think it was only a matter of time before the program came to a conclusion amid Texas’ next steps.
A seven-year deal worth $35 million through 2028 could have allowed him to fall even faster as fast as Beard rises in college basketball.
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