Texas coach Beard arrested
AUSTIN, Texas — Chris Beard, who coached Texas Tech to the 2019 NCAA championship game and was hired away by Texas with expectations he’d elevate his alma mater to the same elite level, was arrested early Monday on a felony family violence charge after a woman told police he strangled and bit her.
The school suspended Beard without pay “until further notice” and said assistant Rodney Terry, a former head coach at UTEP and Fresno State, would coach the seventhranked Longhorns against Rice on Monday night.
The game ended too late for this edition.
Beard was arrested by Austin police and booked at the Travis County jail at 4:18 a.m. on a charge of assault on a family or household member in which their breath was impeded. The charge is a third-degree felony in Texas, with a possible punishment of two to 10 years in prison.
According to the arrest affidavit first reported by the Austin American-Statesman, the woman told police she is his fiance and they have been in a relationship for six years. She said they had been in an argument where she broke his glasses before he “just snapped on me and became super violent.”
According to the affidavit, the woman told police “he choked me, bit me, bruises all over my leg, throwing me around and going nuts.”
She told police Beard choked her from behind with his arm around her neck and she couldn’t breathe for about five seconds. Police say she she had a bite mark on her right arm and an abrasion to her right temple among other visible injuries.
When questioned by police, Beard said he had audio recordings of the incident that would show he was not the primary aggressor. But he refused to share them with officers, police said.
Beard went before a magistrate judge for his bond hearing, wearing jailhouse black-and-grey stripes and his hands cuffed in front at his waist. Beard was told he could communicate with the woman but not in a threatening manner, was ordered to stay 200 yards away from the residence where police were called and was told he is barred from possessing a firearm.
Beard nodded his head and answered “yes, sir” several times when addressing the judge. Jail records show Beard posted $10,000 bond. He didn’t answer questions when he left the jail with his attorney Perry Minton.
Beard is in his second season of a seven-year guaranteed contract that pays him more than $5 million per year. Before that, he was 112-55 in five seasons with the Red Raiders. He was named The AP coach of the year in 2019 as he guided Texas Tech to a 31-7 finish and lost in an overtime thriller to Virginia in the national championship game.
Beard’s contract includes a provision under which he can be fired for cause for conduct the administration reasonably determines reflects poorly on the coach, program, school or university system. That includes being charged with a felony. University of Texas System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife did not return a message seeking comment.