Viral video catches the Longhorns basketball coach walking over to talk to the Sooners heckler
Feb. 16, 2022Updated: Feb. 16, 2022 3:41 p.m.
Texas coach Chris Beard yells to the team during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Oklahoma on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, in Norman, Okla. Texas won 80-78 in overtime. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)Alonzo Adams/Associated Press
Texas basketball coach Chris Beard shocked an Oklahoma fan by coming over to talk to him after the fan called him a traitor following the Longhorns’ win over the Sooners on Tuesday night in Norman, Okla.
As Beard was walking off the Lloyd Noble Center floor following No. 20 Texas’ overtime win, a fan on the baseline yelled, “Chris Beard, you’re a traitor.” In a video posted on Twitter by Oklahoma City TV reporter Dylan Buckingham, Beard can be seen looking in the direction of the fan, then walking over to him. It’s unclear in the video, which had nearly 400,000 views as of Wednesday morning, what Beard said to the fan, but he said it calmly and briefly before walking away.
Strange moment after Texas’ win over the #Sooners. An OU fan yelled “Chris Beard you’re a traitor!” Beard almost left but returned to have a quick word with the fan. pic.twitter.com/HKEnTWNUzw
— Dylan Buckingham (@DylanBuckingham) February 16, 2022
Eddie Radosevich, who writes for Rivals’ Sooner Scoop, was standing near the fan and tweeted that Beard, “said something to the affect of: ‘Does that make you feel good … you don’t know me’ in response to the kid saying he’s a traitor.”
hahaha I wish it was a great story to tell but he just said something to the affect of: “does that make you feel good … you don’t know me” in response to the kid saying he’s a traitor.
— Eddie Radosevich (@Eddie_Rado) February 16, 2022
A person claiming to be the fan in question, whose Twitter handle is @groutfitgods, confirmed the gist of the short exchange.
“He said ‘Does that make you happy saying that when you don’t even know me?,'” the fan posted on Twitter.
It was me Josh. He said “does that make you happy saying that when you don’t even know me?” After I called him a traitor. He’s soft.
— Groutfit Gamblers (@groutfitgods) February 16, 2022
Beard was the head coach at Texas Tech for five years, leading the Red Raiders to the national championship game against Virginia in 2019. Beard, who graduated from Texas, also spent 10 seasons in Lubbock as an assistant coach. He went 112-55 with Texas Tech as a head coach, including a trip to the Elite Eight a year before the Final Four run, before bolting for Texas and a seven-year, $35 million contract last April.
The reaction to Beard in Oklahoma was mild compared to what he received when his Longhorns played in Lubbock two weeks ago and fans surrounded the team’s bus and chanted vulgarities at Beard throughout the game, which Texas Tech won.
Coaches leaving is a sore subject for Sooners fans as Lincoln Riley bolted Norman after five seasons as the football coach for the USC job in November.
