Source: Mark Adams and Chris Beard are back on the Ole Miss basketball team

Ole Miss basketball head coach Chris Beard will soon be working with a former employee again.

Although there has been no official announcement from the university yet, a source told SuperTalk Mississippi News that Mark Adams, one of Beard’s assistants at several stations, will join the frontman’s staff in his second year at Oxford.

Adams, who was alongside Beard during the Red Raiders’ 2019 national championship run that narrowly missed out on a title, eventually became Texas Tech’s head coach after Beard left the program to take a job at rival 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 head of the Red Raiders was short-lived not because of on-field results, as the team continued to build on the momentum left by Beard, but because of a controversy sparked by comments made by Adams that university officials deemed “inappropriate, unacceptable and racially insensitive.” During a closed-door meeting with an unnamed player in March 2023, Adams urged the player to be more open to coaching, citing a Bible passage that speaks of a slave and a master, leading to the coach’s suspension.

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 spent the 2023-24 season. The Pirates ultimately finished the season with a sub-.500 record, but Adams remained a coveted coach in the industry and eventually landed a spot at Oxford.

Adams has served as a head coach at the college level five times and holds a record of 528-248 – a winning percentage of 68%.

Ole Miss began Beard’s inaugural season with a 13-0 record and finished in the top 25 for the first time since 2019, giving fans reason to believe the program was on a steep rise.

The Rebels faded in February and March, finishing the season with two wins in their final 11 games, both of which came against a Missouri team that had not won a single game against an SEC opponent.

Adding an accomplished coach to an experienced staff of assistants fits Beard’s goal of not only placing Ole Miss among the top 64 teams competing in the postseason, but also putting it in position to capture the first national title in program history.

Report: Chris Beard’s contract extension will keep him at Ole Miss through the 2029/30 season