Longhorns Coach Chris Beard '100 Percent Innocent', Says Attorney

Texas Longhorns head coach Chris Beard's attorney has jumped to his clients defense following his arrest on Monday morning.

Matt Galatzan | Dec 12, 2022

Texas Longhorns basketball coach Chris Beard was arrested early Monday morning on assault charges at his residence in Tarrytown.

And now, according to reports, Austin attorney Perry Minton, who is representing Beard, has jumped to his client's defense, emphatically proclaiming the 49-year-old as innocent.

"Coach Beard is 100 percent innocent of these charges," Minton said, per KVUE's Tony Plohetski. "He should have never been arrested. The complainant wants him released immediately and all charges dismissed. It is truly inconceivable."

Beard was booked on a third-degree felony, which carries up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

The University of Texas released a statement on the situation on Monday.

“The University is aware of the situation regarding Chris Beard. We are continuing to gather information and monitoring the legal process.”

According to the police report, Beard was charged with 'assault on a family/household member' and 'impeding breath circulation'.

According to another report from Plohetski, Beard remains in custody at the Travis County Jail and has not seen a judge.

Beard, 49, is in his second season as the head coach of the Longhorns and has led Texas to a 29-13 record.

So far in 2022, Beard has the Longhorns sitting at 7-1 overall and ranked as the No. 6 team in the country.

Beard first became a head coach at McMurry University in 2012, and has also had stops at Angelo State, Arkansas Little Rock, and Texas Tech, compiling a 237–98 overall record.

Beard is also 10-4 in NCAA tournaments and helped Texas Tech reach a Final Four and national title game in 2019.

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Published Dec 12, 2022

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.