Texas made it official Thursday and fired coach Chris Beard nearly a month after he was arrested on a third-degree felony assault charge for allegedly strangling, biting and assaulting his fiancée inside their home.

Rodney Terry is the Longhorns' interim coach. He'll finish the season.

If you were handicapping this thing, you'd have to make Terry the favorite to land the job on a full-time basis largely because he's inherited an awesome team from Beard and will likely win big this year. Beyond that, Terry is well-liked and best equipped to hold things together. In a perfect world, he'll keep the job.

Still, Texas is one of the more desirable jobs in college basketball — arguably a top-10 job at that — which could lead to a nationwide search. The following is a list of coaches UT could consider. 

Texas coaching candidates

Rodney Terry, Texas interim coach: Any sensible list of candidates has to start with Terry for reasons already stated. He was raised just south of Houston and on Rick Barnes' staff at Texas from 2002 to 2011 before spending 10 years as the coach at Fresno State and UTEP. He's familiar with his surroundings and knows what winning at Texas looks like. Simply put, this is likely Terry's job to lose