University of Texas basketball coach Chris Beard is charged with domestic assault

Chris Beard, head coach of the University of Texas men’s basketball team, was arrested Monday morning for domestic violence in Austin, Texas. Authorities said he attacked a family member as she tried to stop his breathing.

The Austin Police Department said officers responded to a call about a disturbance in an Austin home at around 12:15 p.m. Beard, 49, was arrested and charged with assaulting a family member or family member. family by preventing respiratory circulation, a third-degree felony, according to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.

Bond for Beard was incorrect. It wasn’t clear if he had a lawyer.

Details about who Beard was charged with the assault and that person’s condition weren’t immediately available Monday. Beard has three daughters and is engaged, according to his official bio on the University of Texas at Austin athletics website.

The university said in a statement Monday that it was “aware of the situation regarding Chris Beard.”

“We continue to gather intelligence and monitor the legal process,” the university said.

The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Beard was named head coach of the Texas Longhorns in April 2021 after five seasons as the head coach of the Texas Tech men’s basketball team, which he led to the NCAA National Championship in 2019.

Previously, Beard served as the University of Arkansas head coach on Little Rock’s men’s basketball teams; Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas; McMurry University in Abilene, Texas; Seminole State College in Sanford, Florida; and Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kan. Beard graduated from the University of Texas in 1995 with a degree in kinesiology, the study of human movement.

The Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team will face Rice University on Monday night in Austin. The team was absent Sunday after beating the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff 88-43 in Austin on Saturday.