Chris Beard couldn’t take it any longer.
The Ole Miss coach grew tired of watching what he believed to be a one-sided whistle during an 84-66 road loss to No. 25 Tennessee and finally snapped with 6:15 remaining in the game.
Beard certainly earned his money’s worth in his ejection, screaming and pointing at the referees while being restrained at times and then later running back onto the court to give his team some parting words.
“You have a Hall of Fame coach here, first ballot, one of the best that’s ever done it,” Beard said of his ejection while referencing Tennessee coach Rick Barnes. “And I think if you look back at different spots in his career, he had to fight for his program. I kind of think that’s where we are with Ole Miss right now.
“The free-throw differential in this game and the foul differential in this game, just frustrating from a coaching standpoint and a playing standpoint. It’s never personal.”
Road teams don’t expect to get a friendly whistle in hostile conference environments, yet Beard thought the referees took Tuesday’s game into their hands too often.
Ole Miss (11-11, 3-6 SEC) committed 27 fouls and shot just 21 free throws, while Tennessee (16-6, 6-3) had 34 free-throw attempts while only being whistled for 18 violations.
Beard lost his cool on a Tennessee steal while leading 67-51, almost 14 minutes into the second half, after ending the first half trailing by just one point.
He ran onto the court, pointing at one official before turning and pointing at likely another official while assistant coach Bob Donewald Jr. attempted to hold him back amid a chorus of boos.
Beard earned the boot at that point but, in an odd moment, after walking toward the tunnel, he decided to turn around and ran to his team and gave them one last passionate speech.
He then ran back to the other end and headed toward the locker room.
“All we ask for is a consistent whistle. If you’re going to call post defense foul on that end, call post defense foul on the other end,” Beard said. “It wasn’t the difference in the overall final score of the game, but at some point you got to fight for your players and that was the objective tonight in that moment.”
Beard is in his third year with Ole Miss and this season has been a massive disappointment after 20- and 24-win seasons, respectively, to begin his tenure with the school.
Last year’s squad made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019, but Beard made it clear that he believes his program is still not respected like its SEC brethren.
The Rebels return to the court Saturday when Beard coaches against his former Texas team.
