Rebel Rumor Mill: What’s the hold-up in announcing Chris Beard’s debut Ole Miss coaching staff?
Chris Beard had seemingly finalized his debut Ole Miss basketball coaching staff when he hired Wes Flanigan away from Auburn in April.
Months have passed, however, and there’s still been no issuance of the standard-operation official announcement. All that’s really changed is Cinco Boone, who was once an expected Ole Miss off-court hire, ended up at Abilene Christian University as an assistant coach instead.
Oh, and Beard brought an all-time Ole Miss great home.
While still unofficial, sources indicate Murphy Holloway has been on the job as a graduate assistant and working with the Rebel bigs in summer workouts for weeks now. Holloway reunites with Al Pinkins, his primary position coach over his decorated Ole Miss career.
Holloway played four seasons under Andy Kennedy at Ole Miss. Per sources, Kennedy, now at UAB, recently interviewed at West Virginia as a potential replacement for his long-time basketball mentor Bob Huggins. Huggins resigned last week after an arrest for DUI. Kennedy sent a tweet this week semi-denying his interest.
Holloway finished as an All-SEC selection and the school’s all-time leading rebounder. He’s the only player in SEC history to total 1,400 points, 1,000 rebounds and 190 steals. He also notched 39 career double-doubles, second ever at Ole Miss.
Jul 29, 2012; London, United Kingdom; China head coach Robert Donewald Jr. during the men’s basketball preliminary against Spain during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Basketball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Sources indicate Holloway is already worked extensively with a few marquee transfer-portal additions.
Specifically, Moussa Cisse (Oklahoma State), a former five-star prospect, and Jamarion Sharp (Western Kentucky) — a pair of ‘special’ talents, as recently described by Beard.
Cisse is awaiting clearance on an NCAA waiver for an additional year of eligibility, as is fellow transfer Brandon Murray, a guard previously from Georgetown and LSU. Neither case is considered a slam dunk.
Still, Holloway hasn’t been THE reason for the staff-announcement hold-up.
Beard has been vetting the possibility of bringing Bob Donewald on staff. In such a scenario, Win Case — who served as the lead assistant under Beard’s predecessor, Kermit Davis, at Ole Miss — would take on more of an off-the-court, front-office-type role.
Beard recently touched on Case’s status in an exclusive interview with the Ole Miss Spirit.
“Win’s a winner. Win’s an elite coach,” Beard said. “I’ve known Win for decades. Win’s also a great person. High-character. He impact’s the players’ lives, he’s a great role model (and) he’s a truth-teller. He’s a positive guy (and) brings great energy every day.
“So, you know, we’re pleased to have Win in the organization. And we believe it’ll impact winning.”
Donewald would be reuniting with Beard — as was the case with the already-on-staff Pinkins and Brian Burg (Texas Tech) and Flanigan (Auburn).
Donewald served as a Texas assistant last season and would bring 24 years of coaching experience to the Ole Miss bench, including three under Beard at Texas Tech (2019-21) and one at Texas (2021-22).
He’s been a head coach for professional teams in Russia, China, Ukraine, Brazil and Great Britain. He spent three years as the head coach of the Chinese National Team (2010-12). Donewald led the 2012 team to the 2012 London Olympics.
Donewald served as the head coach for the Iowa Energy in the NBA D-League (2014-16) and was an assistant coach in the NBA for the Cleveland Cavaliers (2003-04, LeBron James’ rookie season), the New Orleans Hornets (2002-03) and Charlotte Hornets (2001-02).
“Staff continues to kind of be a work in progress,” Beard said. “I understand everybody’s urgency, but it’s much more important to us to get it done right and not to get it done quickly. I understand there’s an urgency to everybody and nobody’s more urgent than I am. But we take a lot of time to make big decisions that affect the players and affect the whole organization.
“We’re off to a great start with our coaching staff.”
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