Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard talks 'fuel' for 2026 and new-look roster

OXFORD – Chris Beard admittedly had never been through a season quite like what 2025-26 brought his and Ole Miss’ way.

After making a trip to the program’s second ever Sweet 16 – and first in 24 years – expectations were high last season for the Rebels, who lost four of five starters but added six four-star transfers, according to 247Sports’ rankings.

The Rebels won their first five games in the 2025-26 season before enduring a four-game losing streak. Ole Miss was 11-7 following a one-point win at Mississippi State and had won three games in a row. The Rebels proceeded to lose their next 10 and 12 of 13 overall to close the regular season. Two of the last three losses came in overtime, and the regular-season finale saw South Carolina win on a buzzer beater.

Ole Miss entered the SEC Tournament as the No. 15 seed and won three games to advance to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Arkansas in overtime. The Rebels finished the season 15-20; it was Beard’s first losing season as a head coach.

“I’ve never experienced a season like we did last year,” Beard told the Daily Journal in a one-on-one interview. “So for me, there’s a lot of fuel, lot of opportunity.”

The college basketball calendar does not provide much time for introspection these days, Beard said, and he hasn’t had much time to look back on how exactly the season veered off course the way it did. But he does maintain a ton of admiration for the way his team fought to the very end, perhaps best evidenced by their SEC Tournament run. It just seemed like the Rebels were “consistently kind of one or two possessions away.”

“Really haven’t had a chance much to reflect on that. It’s been full speed looking ahead. What I would tell you about last year’s team – I do have a lot of respect for those guys and how they continued to just fight and to compete and really stick together," Beard said. “ … We were one basket away from being in that championship game. But I think when I do have a chance to reflect – which I have not to this point – I think just respect and appreciate are the words that come to mind. Those guys really stuck together last year.”

Leading scorer AJ Storr (15.5 points per game) and Malik Dia (14.5 points per game) are both off to begin their professional careers while eight players have since transferred out, including Eduardo Klafke, Travis Perry, James Scott and Tylis Jordan.

There is no ill will to players who chose to leave the program, Beard said, pointing out a general “misconception of how the portal really works.” Players must make the best decisions for themselves, and that doesn’t always mean staying in Oxford.

“We’re really proud of all the players we had. In college basketball, all these players have decisions to make. And so all of our players that chose to go play college basketball elsewhere, we completely supported,” Beard said. “ ... I can tell you I have an incredible relationship with all these guys. I saw Klafke and Gusto (Augusto Cassia) last week. Completely supportive of all these guys. Koren (Johnson), James (Scott), Corey (Chest), all of them. … Each player has the right to make decisions for their future. For us, we support everybody.”