Texas Longhorns Coach Suspended After Allegedly Assaulting Fiancée – Chris Beard, the head coach of the University of Texas basketball team, has been suspended indefinitely without pay following his arrest on Monday for felony domestic violence. “The University takes matters of interpersonal violence involving members of its community seriously,” the school said upon announcing Beard’s suspension, reported The Washington Post. “Given the information available, The University has suspended Chris Beard from his position as head coach of Men’s Basketball and will withhold his pay until further notice.”
The City of Austin Police Department charged Beard with a third-degree felony of assault on a family member on Monday. The 49-year-old Texas Longhorns coach was arrested at 12:15 a.m. in Austin after his fiancée told cops that he tried to choke her. “He just snapped on me and became super violent,” she alleged, according to an affidavit from the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. “Beard choked me, threw me off the bed, bit me, bruises all over my leg, throwing me around, and going nuts.”
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Beard also allegedly put his arm around her neck, according to the affidavit. “Yes, I could not breathe, he did it for probably like five seconds,” she said in the affidavit. The couple “had been upset with each other for a couple of days regarding relationship issues,” the woman told authorities, who arrived at the residence in West Austin after a 911 call came from the home.
She added that the alleged incident occurred after she broke Beard’s reading glasses because he was twirling them while he sat upright in bed. According to the affidavit, she offered to buy Beard a new pair 10-15 minutes later but he slapped her own glasses off her face and proceeded to choke her.
When asked why he stopped choking her, the alleged victim said, “I don’t know, he just let go.” Despite this, she suffered a bite mark on her right arm, an abrasion to her right eyebrow, a scrape on her left leg from her knee to her foot, a cut to her left thumb with dried blood, and scratches on her back and right eye, she stated in the affidavit. She also stated that she experienced difficulty breathing and shallow breathing during the attack, plus rapid breathing after the attack.
“My leg is really killing me right now,” she added in the affidavit about being allegedly dragged off a bed by Beard. While on the scene, Beard said he had audio recordings to prove he was not the primary aggressor, but was not willing to share them, according to the affidavit. The basketball head coach was booked at Travis County Jail and released on a $10,000 bond.
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“Coach Beard is 100% innocent of these charges,” Beard’s attorney, Perry Minton, told the Austin American-Statesman. “He should never have been arrested. The complainant wants him released immediately and all charges dismissed. It is truly inconceivable.” Beard and his fiancée had been together for a total of six years and engaged for three. They share the same residence.
