Ole Miss head basketball coach Chris Beard will soon be reunited with a former staffer.
While an official announcement has not been made by the university at this time, a source tells SuperTalk Mississippi News that Mark Adams, one of Beard’s assistants at multiple stops, is joining the second-year frontman’s staff in Oxford.
Adams, who was alongside Beard during the Red Raiders’ 2019 national championship run that ended just short of a title, ultimately became Texas Tech’s head coach once Beard departed the program to take a job at rivaling Texas in April 2021. Prior to his time in Lubbock, Adams served alongside Beard and now Ole Miss assistant Wes Flanigan at Arkansas-Little Rock during the 2015-16 season.
Adams’ tenure as the head honcho with the Red Raiders was short-lived not because of results on the floor as the team continued to build on the momentum left by Beard, but due to a controversy that was sparked by Adams making comments that were deemed “inappropriate, unacceptable, and racially insensitive” by university officials. During a closed-door meeting with an unspecified player in March 2023, Adams urged the player to be more receptive to coaching and used a Biblical passage referencing a slave and a master, prompting the coach to be suspended.
Shortly after the university announced his suspension, Adams resigned from his post and later accepted a job as an assistant at East Carolina where he served for the 2023-24 season. The Pirates ultimately finished the season with a record below .500, but Adams remained a hot commodity in the coaching industry and ultimately landed a place in Oxford.
Adams has had five total head coaching gigs at the collegiate level and holds a 528-248 record — a 68% win rate.
Ole Miss began Beard’s inaugural campaign with a 13-0 record and cracked the top 25 for the first time since 2019, giving fans a reason to believe that the program was on a sharp incline.
The Rebels fizzled out during the months of February and March, ending the season winning two of its last 11 games with both victories coming against a Missouri team that did not win a single game against an SEC opponent.
Adding a polished coach to the mix of an experienced cast of assistants fits Beard’s agenda to not only have Ole Miss among the top 64 teams competing in the postseason, but also a group capable of amassing the first national title in program history.
Report: Chris Beard’s contract extension to keep him at Ole Miss through 2029-30 season
