OXFORD – It is official.

On Wednesday, Chris Beard was officially introduced as the new head coach of the Rebels during an introductory press conference down in Oxford. Beard is replacing the fired Kermit Davis after the Rebels went just 12 and 21 this season, 3 and 15 in the SEC. 

But Beard wasn’t answering too many basketball questions.

Instead, there were tough questions about the incident that led to his firing from the University of Texas.  A domestic violence charge that was later dropped.

“The events that have been described in a lot of the descriptions weren’t accurate. That’s been proven. That’s not me. That’s not who I am. It’s not who I’ve been. It’s not who I will be,” Beard said.  “I understand the trust that was put in me to lead this great, historic program and I’m not going to let anybody down.”

Beard has a career record of 237-98 during stops at Arkansas Little-Rock, Texas Tech and Texas.  He led the Red Raiders to the NCAA Championship game in 2019.