UT basketball head coach Chris Beard fired

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The University of Texas at Austin has fired Texas basketball coach Chris Beard weeks after he was charged with a third-degree felony for household violence, college officers mentioned Thursday.

“The University of Texas has parted ways with Chris Beard,” Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte mentioned in a press release. “This has been a difficult situation that we’ve been diligently working through.”

Beard was arrested on Dec. 12 for allegedly strangling his fiancee, Randi Trew, after Austin police responded to a 911 name at a Tarrytown residence early that morning.

Beard’s contract contained a normal clause amongst agreements with UT-Austin that permits the college to droop or fireplace him with trigger for any habits that’s “unbecoming” or results in a prison cost “involving a felony, or any crime involving theft, dishonesty, or moral turpitude,” in keeping with the Austin American-Statesman.

Since Beard was fired for trigger, the college doesn’t must pay out the rest of his contract, in keeping with UT-Austin senior communications supervisor Brian Davis.

Beard was in his second season of a seven-year contract with Texas that paid round $5 million yearly, in addition to extra perks. He was one of many college’s highest-paid staff.

According to a duplicate of the arrest affidavit posted on Twitter by Orangebloods reporter Anwar Richardson, Beard’s fiancee alleged that the 2 obtained in an argument when she grabbed Beard’s glasses out of his fingers and broke them. She alleged that he slapped her glasses off her face after which choked her together with his arm from behind for round 5 seconds.

“He choked me, threw me off the bed, bit me, bruises all over my leg,” she informed police, in keeping with the affidavit. Trew informed police that she couldn’t breathe whereas Beard had his arm round her neck. In the affidavit, police famous seen tooth marks and redness in a chunk mark on her proper forearm.

Following the arrest, UT-Austin suspended Beard, withheld his pay and launched an inside investigation.

“The University takes matters of interpersonal violence involving members of its community seriously,” college officers mentioned in a press release.

On Dec. 23, Trew launched a press release on Twitter denying that Beard strangled her and stating that Beard informed police he was appearing in self-defense.

“I do not refute that,” she mentioned within the assertion. “I do not believe Chris was trying to intentionally harm me in any way. It was never my intent to have him arrested or prosecuted.”

In a press release to the Statesman, Beard’s lawyer Perry Minton referred to as Trew “a smart and independent woman.”

“I think everyone should allow her to have her voice in this matter,” he mentioned.

The college mentioned on the time it was reviewing the assertion from Trew. According to information obtained by the Statesman through an open information request, Beard was supplied an opportunity to resign however refused.

According to the Statesman, Minton wrote to UT saying, “I want to be on record as emphatically stating, and herein memorializing, that Coach Beard has not done anything to violate any provision of his contract with the University of Texas.”

Minton didn’t instantly reply to The Texas Tribune’s request for touch upon Beard’s firing.

While Beard might sue the college over the termination, it could possibly be a troublesome case to win.

Texas legislation protects the state and its entities from lawsuits, even in circumstances through which an entity violates a contract. Former Texas Tech University soccer coach Mike Leach — who died out of the blue final month from problems of a coronary heart assault — was caught in a legal battle with the university since 2009 over his firing, accusing the college of wrongful termination.

Associate head coach Rodney Terry will stay UT’s appearing head coach for the remainder of the Longhorn season.

“We thank Coach Rodney Terry for his exemplary leadership both on and off the court at a time when our team needed it most,” Del Conte mentioned.

Beard has a listening to in Travis County District Court on Jan. 18. Prosecutors within the Travis County District Attorney’s workplace are reviewing the case to see if it’ll go ahead.

Disclosure: Texas Tech University and University of Texas at Austin have been monetary supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news group that’s funded partially by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Financial supporters play no function within the Tribune’s journalism. Find an entire list of them here.