A method for operating a controller of a multiple input, multiple output communications system includes formulating an objective function according to a resource allocation for a user equipment (UE) and a mean square error expression, and updating the objective function to generate an updated resource allocation for the UE, a transmit beamforming vector to precode a transmission to the UE, and a receive beamforming vector to adjust a receiver to receive the precoded transmission. The method also includes transmitting allocation information about the resource allocation for the UE and the transmit beamforming vector to a communications controller serving the UE.