Why Ole Miss basketball coach Chris Beard's salary increased to $5 million per season

OXFORD — New contracts signed by Chris Beard in April include nearly a 50% pay increase as the Ole Miss men's basketball coach enters his second season, documents show.

Under the terms of his first agreement with the Rebels, Beard had been set to make $3.35 million in 2024-25. Now, he is scheduled to earn $5 million, according to contracts with the Ole Miss Athletic Foundation obtained by the Clarion Ledger.

Ole Miss finished 20-12 with a 7-11 SEC mark last season, failing to crack the NCAA Tournament and declining to play in the NIT. An unbeaten nonconference slate paved the way for just the 18th 20-win season in program history before nine losses in 11 games to close the season ended the Rebels' March Madness hopes.

Beard was reportedly a candidate to leave the Rebels during the offseason, with reports connecting him to the vacancy at Arkansas that was eventually filled by John Calipari. Ole Miss announced a contract extension for Beard on March 13, just before the Rebels played in the SEC Tournament. Beard then signed his most recent Ole Miss Athletic Foundation contract on April 12, roughly a week after he declared his intent to stay with the Rebels on social media amid Arkansas interest. The financial terms of that deal were never publicly announced.

Beard's base compensation will increase by $100,000 annually over the life of the new deal, which runs six years in length.

Mississippi state law prevents public employees from signing contracts longer than four years, but Ole Miss and Mississippi State work around this by negotiating separate, longer contracts with their private athletic foundations. The majority of the compensation comes from the foundation contracts.

Beard is entitled to $5 million in overall base pay from the Ole Miss Athletic Foundation, minus the amount paid to him in his state contract. In 2024-25, $1 million of his athletic foundation pay comes from a "licensing and publicity rights agreement" between the foundation and Baseline Asset Management Corporation, for which Beard is the President.

Beard's new deal elevates his total pay to what he was making at Texas, where he signed a seven-year contract worth $5 million annually before he was fired for cause following a domestic violence charge that led to his arrest. Those charges were later dropped.

At present, Beard's new total pay of $5 million ties him for fourth in the SEC last season behind Tennessee's Rick Barnes, Auburn's Bruce Pearl and Calipari. His pay matches that of Kentucky coach Mark Pope and Alabama coach Nate Oats.

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The contract also entitles Beard to the use of vehicles (as well as a $600 monthly car stipend), a cell phone, 14 premium-level tickets for all Ole Miss games, a membership at the Country Club of Oxford and 20 hours of private air transportation for personal use annually. If he's still employed on May 1, 2026, the Ole Miss Athletic Foundation will pay Beard $250,000.

Should the Rebels fire Beard without cause, the foundation would owe him 75% of the value of his remaining contracts. If fired on March 31, 2025, that would amount to $19,875,000. If Beard were to move on during the remainder of the first year of his contract, he would owe the Ole Miss Athletic Foundation $4,500,000. That amount drops to $3,500,000 in the second year and $2,500,000 in the third year before stabilizing at $1,000,000 for the final three years of Beard's deal. If athletic director Keith Carter and University Chancellor Glenn Boyce are no longer employed in their respective positions, Beard's buyout is cut in half.

Like football coach Lane Kiffin, Beard has no duty to mitigate his buyout.

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Chris Beard's Ole Miss basketball salary grew to $5 million. Here's how