Chris Beard, the head coach of the 12th seeded Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans, will coach in the NCAA Tournament with an injury. It’s an injury that he suffered while punching a white board during the Sun Belt tournament final.
Beard broke his right hand at halftime of Sunday’s final in frustration with his team’s play.
“We were not playing our best half,” said Beard, via ESPN’s Myron Metcalf. “We were down five at half. I made a bad decision in the locker room, trying to get the guys a little fired up. We talk a lot about boxing in our program. We’re a good defensive team. We believe in boxing, kind of, footwork.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t get the message with the handwork. A dry-erase board took a bad shot.”
It’s worth noting that Beard is a former assistant to Bob Knight when the legendary coach was at Texas Tech, which is why he didn’t throw a chair.
“There was a chair there,” Beard said. “I thought, briefly, about maybe using the chair, but Coach Knight told me never to do that. Never use a chair in [any] situation. No, I learned a lot from Coach. I’m proud to be associated with him and proud to be taking a team to the NCAA tournament that I believe plays the right way.
“I’ll be there. If I had one leg and one eye, I’ll make it. I’ve worked my whole life to coach in a game like this.”
The Trojans play fifth seed Purdue on Thursday. Can they pull the upset? Well, the last coach to hurt himself during Championship Week saw things work out pretty well for him, so maybe Beard can take heart from that.
