White privilege will all the time be part of Chris Beard’s story, however that’s as a consequence of his race. Nevertheless, his skill to stay hireable is because of his expertise…and his race.

Amid a sign-stealing scandal turning school soccer the wrong way up, the start of the NBA season, the LSU girls’s group getting obliterated by Colorado, and the weekly happenings of the NFL, even probably the most diligent sports activities fan could have missed that the return of faculty basketball implies that Chris Beard is again teaching — a lot for believing girls.

On Friday night time, Ole Miss will face Jap Washington of their second sport of the season, as they’re trying to go 2-0 after defeating Alabama State 69-59 of their season opener.

“To start with, it’s all concerning the gamers,” Beard mentioned after the sport in an try to take the highlight off himself. “I all the time really feel that method on opening night time… They work so laborious. The summer season, the preseason, the practices, and then you definately get to sport night time and also you simply don’t need it to backfire.

“There’s no place I don’t suppose anyone would relatively be proper now than Oxford, Mississippi,” he mentioned.

That wouldn’t have been the case if Beard hadn’t been run out of Austin, Texas.

“(Beard) was responsible of ‘unacceptable conduct that makes him unfit to function head coach at our college,” Texas’ vice chairman for authorized affairs, Jim Davis, mentioned concerning the faculty’s choice to fireside him with trigger in January. Beard was concerned in a he-said/she-said felony home violence arrest together with his fiancée, which later changed into a “she mentioned he didn’t do it” state of affairs.

“He choked me, threw me up and about, bit me, bruises throughout my leg, throwing me round, and going nuts,” his fiancée instructed officers after the incident.

Due to how good he’s at teaching basketball, and the perks that come together with being a white man in America, anyone with a mind knew that Beard can be employed once more before later. Just a few months later, Ole Miss got here calling. At his introductory press convention, Beard was requested if he put his arm on his fiancée’s throat. The coward refused to reply.

“Randi and I’ve agreed to not speak concerning the particulars of not solely that night time however type of the nights that we went by this course of,” he mentioned. “However what I can inform you is, a lot of what was reported was not correct, and that’s been confirmed with the case not solely being dismissed, fees dropped, but in addition, Randi’s assertion on Dec. 23.”

The costs towards Beard had been dropped largely as a consequence of his fiancée wanting them to be. “Whereas I all the time had religion and confidence within the fact and this consequence, it has been extraordinarily difficult to attend patiently and never publicly reply. I’m sorry and deeply remorseful to my household, associates, all my gamers and workers each most up-to-date and previous, and everybody at my alma mater The College of Texas,” he wrote in an announcement that allowed Ole Miss to return in and scoop him up like nothing had ever occurred.

“What we realized is that the preliminary experiences weren’t correct, not an correct reflection of the occasions that occurred,” mentioned Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter at Beard’s introductory press convention. “We had multilevel conversations with quite a lot of folks surrounding that night time, and coach Beard was extraordinarily clear with our discussions with him.”

In accordance with native retailers, two of Beard’s daughters had been onstage with him that day. His fiancée wasn’t. That is the person Ole Miss followers will likely be cheering for.

In school athletics, the coaches have all the facility. A program’s identification is straight tied to whoever blows the whistle. And down in Mississippi, Chris Beard has been deemed acceptable to find out how that program will likely be operated. That’s not solely a foul search for Ole Miss, it’s one for faculty basketball.