Chris Beard explains why he wrote a note to Charles Bediako amid eligibility controversy

Charles Bediako’s attempted return to college basketball came to an end after just five games following Monday night’s ruling by a Tuscaloosa County judge denying him an injunction in his ongoing eligibility case against the NCAA. The ruling meant Alabama’s 7-foot center is no longer eligible to play.

Two days later, in an attempt avoid any potential taunting from the fans, Bediako opted to remain in Tuscaloosa while his Alabama teammates traveled to Oxford, Miss., for Wednesday night’s 93-74 victory vs. Ole Miss. It was the Crimson Tide’s third straight win.

Following the game, Alabama head coach Nate Oats revealed that Rebels coach Chris Beard handed him a handwritten letter intended for Bediako that Oats described as “one of the classiest moves I’ve ever seen.” Beard addressed the note during his own press conference on Wednesday night.

“That’s a personal deal. I was just thinking about Charles the human being,” Beard said. “I don’t know him, seen him play a lot of basketball. He’s a good player. So, I have no dog in the fight in terms of the whole situation. But I do know there’s a human being involved, and watching some of the stuff that was going on at the games.

“So, that was, just as many people have to me in my life when I go through adversity and tough times, I think as human beings we can encourage other people. It doesn’t always have to be somebody that you know,” Beard concluded. “So it was a personal thing, but I was just writing Charles the human being a letter to let him know that there are a lot of people out there pulling for him in his next basketball step.”

Nate Oats praises Chris Beard for ‘classy’ note written to Charles Bediako after eligibility ruling

Oats was effusive in his praise of Beard’s gesture during his own postgame press conference.

“I thought it was an extremely well-written, thoughtful thing for an opposing coach to do that understands that we’re still coaching young men,” Oats said. “This is not a object we’re dealing with. It’s a young man with a basketball career in front of him, with an educational career in front of him, and coach Beard understands it.”

Oats also revealed that Beard called him Tuesday night to inform him that he’d already met with the student cheering section and there would be no heckling directed at Bediako should he attend the game. Chants of “G-League dropout” were quite prominent throughout Alabama’s last two road games at Florida and rival Auburn over the past two weeks.

“(Beard) said, ‘Look, I assure you, that’s not happening here,’” Oats added. “‘I’ve already met with the cheering section. Everything’s gonna be positive here. He won’t get any of that here.’”

— On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this report.