Early 2023 was a troubled time for Texas men’s basketball. Former head coach Chris Beard was fired and assistant coach Rodney Terry rose to the interim position.

What followed was one of Texas’ best March Madness runs in recent years. With only a few months of head coaching the team under his belt, Terry took the Longhorns to the Elite Eight. 

On Dec. 12, 2022, Beard was arrested on a third-degree felony charge of assault against his wife for strangulation. Beard was then suspended from the University of Texas without pay and later fired on Jan. 5.

Trew, Beard’s wife, later went back on her statements, apologizing for what she had caused and claimed Beard was acting in self-defense after she broke his glasses. The felony charge was dismissed. 

Only three months later, Beard took charge of the Mississippi Rebels men’s basketball team, where he has been for the past year and a half.

With Texas’ move to the Southeastern Conference, the Longhorns will face Ole Miss for the first time since Beard took over. But Terry isn’t worried.

“Chris Beard and I go way, way back,” Terry said on the SEC Media Day. “You’re talking about 25 years of friendship, one of my really, really close friends in the business. I wouldn’t have this opportunity here in Texas if he wasn’t kind enough to bring me back to Texas.”

Beard hired Terry as an assistant coach in 2021 but had previously worked as an assistant coach at Texas for nine years, from 2002 to 2011, under former head coach Rick Barnes.

“(I) got a chance to come back and embark on a second stint at Texas, and with the hope that we’re going to get a chance to build a national championship team, a team that gets a chance to play on Monday night,” Terry said.

Despite the controversial events, Terry and Beard maintain a close relationship and try to talk about opponents other than each other. Texas and Mississippi will face each other in Oxford on Jan. 29. 

The SEC is a big conference in the sport, and expectations are high. Texas is currently five spots higher than Ole Miss in the AP Poll, at No. 19 and No. 24, respectively, but a lot can change in the next few months.

”Coaches have taken their teams to the Final Four,” Terry said. “And there’ve been great players in this league, and obviously a lot of really good, intimate environments to play in that will be great venues.”