Texas faces Chris Beard's Ole Miss, a stark reminder of a promising era derailed by controversy, and a chance for a new beginning.
When Texas plays Ole Miss on Saturday at the Moody Center, it's not just a chance for it to bolster its NCAA Tournament resume - it's a chance to put its past in the rearview mirror.
The Rebels' head coach is none other than Chris Beard, the Longhorns coach for the 2022-23 season, before he was fired after being arrested for domestic violence.
It was a massive blow to a team that had one of the best rosters in the country and was a firm national title contender.
Interim head coach Rodney Terry did a wonderful job leading Texas to the Elite 8 that season, but the fun stopped there.
The Longhorns' roster that helped them reach the Elite 8 was built primarily by Beard in the transfer portal. With many of those players out of eligibility, Terry was tasked with retooling one of the most talented rosters in Texas history, and it just never came to fruition.
After two straight seasons of barely scraping into the big dance, Terry was fired, and current head coach Sean Miller was brought in, bringing us to where we are today.
Texas is once again on the March Madness bubble this season, but it's shown significant improvement throughout the season.
The Longhorns are in a program rebuild, and Miller hasn't been afraid to embrace that.
But it didn't have to be this way.
When Beard was hired in 2021, hope sprang eternal that he was the coach to finally take the program to the promised land.
In his first season, he led Texas to its first tournament win in eight years, and in his aforementioned second season, the energy surrounding the team was contagious.
The Longhorns finally had an identity, one that players, coaches, and most importantly, fans, could identify with and take pride in.
That was all taken away after Beard's off-court incident in late 2022.
As Texas prepares for its battle against Ole Miss, it's easy to look in reverse and wonder, what if?
Unfortunately, the human race hasn't invented time machines yet, meaning dwelling on the past will only cause unnecessary mental anguish.
The truth is, the best way for the Longhorns to forget about the Beard drama is to beat him.
Miller is having a bumpy first season in Austin, but like Beard, he's a veteran with experience in building elite college basketball programs.
The Texas athletic department has put its trust in him to do just that, and a win against its former coach could show Miller has the Longhorns on the right path.
Just as Beard did.