OXFORD — Ole Miss basketball coach Chris Beard cited Mark Adams' qualities as a teacher and relationship-builder when explaining why he decided to add the former Texas Tech coach to his staff.

Adams resigned as the Red Raiders' coach in March 2023 following what the university described in a news release as the "use of an inappropriate, unacceptable and racially insensitive comment."

"There's a vetting process for everybody we hire in terms of reaching out and talking to past employers and things like that," Beard said. "I understand the question with Coach Adams. But absolutely, we went through that whole process, got all the information, the facts, the truth and made the decision that we thought was best for Ole Miss. And we're really happy Coach Adams is here."

Texas Tech, which originally had suspended Adams, said in a statement that he "was encouraging the student-athlete to be more receptive to coaching and referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents and slaves serving their masters. Adams immediately addressed this with the team and apologized."

Ole Miss never officially announced Adams' hire.

Adams had served on Beard's staff at Little Rock, then followed him to Texas Tech. When Beard left in 2021 to take the head job at Texas, Adams succeeded him in Lubbock.

Adams posted a 43-25 record at Texas Tech and reached the Sweet 16 in 2022.

"For us, the decision was really based on our players," Beard said Tuesday. "Everybody we hire in our organization, I always try to keep the main thing the main thing. I start the process with one thing in mind and I ultimately make the decision with one thing in mind: What's best for our players? And Coach Adams will do a great job here, having relationships with our guys and impacting our guys on a daily basis just with his experience."

Ole Miss hired Beard in March 2023, just over two months after Texas fired him in the wake of a domestic violence charge that led to his arrest. Those charges were later dropped.

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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 explains why Ole Miss basketball hired ex-coach Mark Adams