Chris Beard (basketball)

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Chris Beard
Chris Beard (cropped).jpg
Beard coaching Texas Tech in 2019
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamTexas
ConferenceBig 12
Record9–2 (.818)
Annual salary$5.2 million
Biographical details
Born (1973-02-18) February 18, 1973 (age 48)
Marietta, Georgia
Alma materTexas
Abilene Christian
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1991–1995Texas (GA)
1995–1996Incarnate Word (GA)
1996–1997Abilene Christian (assistant)
1997–1999North Texas (assistant)
1999–2000Fort Scott CC
2000–2001Seminole State JC
2001–2011Texas Tech (assoc. HC)
2011–2012South Carolina Warriors
2012–2013McMurry
2013–2015Angelo State
2015–2016Little Rock
2016–2021Texas Tech
2021–presentTexas
Head coaching record
Overall217–87 (.714)
Tournaments9–3 (.750) (NCAA Division I)
2–1 (NCAA Division II)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Awards

Christopher Michael Beard (born February 18, 1973)[1] is an American basketball coach who is the head men's basketball coach at the University of Texas at Austin. He previously coached at Texas Tech, Little Rock, Angelo State, and McMurry. Beard graduated from high school from McCullough High School in The Woodlands, Texas. He was a manager at Texas under former Longhorns coach Tom Penders, graduating in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology. He received a Masters of Education from Abilene Christian University where he served as a graduate assistant in 1998.

Under Beard's watch, the Texas Tech Red Raiders made the deepest NCAA Tournament runs in school history. In 2019, the Red Raiders won a school-record 31 games on the way to the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game against the Virginia Cavaliers. He was recognized as the 2019 AP National Coach of the Year.

Coaching career[]

After serving as a student manager and student assistant at Texas for Tom Penders and a graduate assistant at Incarnate Word and Abilene Christian, Beard was an assistant coach at North Texas from 1997–1999.

From there, Beard was hired as head coach at Fort Scott Community College where he coached the team to a 19–12 record and its first winning season in 8 years.[2] In 2000, he was hired as the head coach at Seminole State College. In his one year there he went 25–6 and finished ranked 14th in the country.

Following that season, Beard was hired as an assistant and later associate head coach at Texas Tech to work under the legendary Bob Knight. During his time at Texas Tech, the Red Raiders made four NCAA Tournament appearances along with a trip to the NIT Final Four. Chris Beard spent 10 years coaching at Texas Tech under Bob Knight and his son Pat Knight, often citing the influence of the two men as his keys to success.[3]

Beard also spent one year as head coach for the South Carolina Warriors of the American Basketball Association, where he led the team to a 29–2 record.[4] On March 8, 2012, Beard was hired as head coach at Lamar State College–Port Arthur, but resigned six days later for the same position at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas where he spent one season.[5] In March 2013, he was hired as the sixth head coach at Angelo State. In two years with the Rams, he went 47–15.

Little Rock[]

On April 8, 2015, Beard was named the head coach of Arkansas–Little Rock.

In his first and only season at UALR, the Trojans went 30–5 and won the regular season and Sun Belt tournament titles to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Little Rock was awarded a 12 seed and knocked off fifth-seeded Purdue 85–83 in double overtime to advance to the Second Round, where they fell to Iowa State.

Beard was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year for his efforts.

Texas Tech[]

On March 27, 2016, Beard accepted the head coaching job at UNLV.[6] When the Texas Tech head coaching job was made vacant by Tubby Smith's departure to Memphis, Beard took the Texas Tech job on April 15, 2016.[7] Beard cited his 10 years as an assistant coach at Texas Tech University under Bob Knight and Pat Knight amongst the reasons that he took the job and the proximity to his daughters who live a few hours away from Lubbock.

On January 3, 2017, Beard led Texas Tech to upset #7 West Virginia[8] leading the Red Raiders to their first regular-season win over the Mountaineers in program history. The following year he again led Texas Tech to a 72–71 win over #2 WVU. His 2017-18 team was also the first Texas Tech team to win at Kansas, snapping a 17-game road losing streak against the Jayhawks. Beard won the Big 12 Co-Coach of the Year in 2018. On March 23, 2018 Beard coached Texas Tech to its first-ever Elite Eight berth in program history with a 78–65 win over the Purdue Boilermakers.[9]

On March 9, 2019 under Beard's leadership Texas Tech won a share of the Big 12 regular season title, Texas Tech's first ever title in the Big 12 conference and its first conference title since 1996 when the team played in the Southwest Conference.[10] At the conclusion of the 2019 season, Beard earned Big 12 coach of the year honors as he led Texas Tech to a 26–5 regular season record, second only to Tech's 30–1 record in 1995-96.[11] On March 30, 2019 Beard led Texas Tech to the first Final Four appearance in school history with a 75–69 victory over Gonzaga to win the West Regional. On April 6, 2019 Beard led the Red Raiders to a 61–51 victory over Michigan State to earn the school’s first National Championship berth. The Red Raiders would finish runners-up to Virginia in the final, losing 85–77 in overtime.

On April 29, 2019, Beard signed a six-year extension worth more than $4.5 million a season,[12] becoming the third-highest-paid college basketball coach in the country.

Texas[]

On April 1, 2021, Beard was hired as the 25th head coach at Texas.[13]

Personal life[]

Beard has three daughters.[14]

Head coaching record[]

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
McMurry War Hawks (Heartland Conference) (2012–2013)
2012–13 McMurry 19–10 10–8 None[15] NCCAA Regional Final[16]
McMurry: 19–10 (.655) 10–8 (.556)
Angelo State Rams (Lone Star Conference) (2013–2015)
2013–14 Angelo State 19–9 8–6 3rd[17]
2014–15 Angelo State 28–6 11–3 2nd[18] NCAA Division II Third Round
Angelo State: 47–15 (.758) 19–9 (.679)
Little Rock Trojans (Sun Belt Conference) (2015–2016)
2015–16 Little Rock 30–5 17–3 1st NCAA Division I Round of 32
Little Rock: 30–5 (.857) 17–3 (.850)
Texas Tech Red Raiders (Big 12 Conference) (2016–2021)
2016–17 Texas Tech 18–14 6–12 T–7th
2017–18 Texas Tech 27–10 11–7 T–2nd NCAA Division I Elite Eight
2018–19 Texas Tech 31–7 14–4 T–1st NCAA Division I Runner-Up
2019–20 Texas Tech 18–13 9–9 T–3rd NCAA Division I Cancelled
2020–21 Texas Tech 18–11 9–8 T–6th NCAA Division I Round of 32
Texas Tech: 112–55 (.671) 49–40 (.551)
Texas Longhorns (Big 12 Conference) (2021–present)
2021-22 Texas 9–2 0–0
Texas: 9–2 (.778) 0–0 (–)
Total: 217–87 (.712)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion


References[]

  1. ^ NCAA® Career Statistics
  2. ^ Schulte, Troy (March 8, 2016). "Net worth: UALR's Beard lives to coach basketball". Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
  3. ^ "TEXASTECH.COM Pat Knight Names Chris Beard Associate Head Coach – Texas Tech University Official Athletic Site". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-03-24.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-12-29. Retrieved 2013-03-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "Newly hired Seahawks basketball coach changes mind". The Beaumont Enterprise. 12 March 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  6. ^ Anderson, Mark (March 27, 2016). "UNLV picks Beard as new basketball coach". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
  7. ^ Goodman, Jeff (April 16, 2016). "Chris Beard hired by Texas Tech weeks after accepting UNLV job". ESPN.
  8. ^ "West Virginia vs. Texas Tech - Game Summary - January 13, 2018 - ESPN".
  9. ^ "Red Raiders Make School History". texastech.com. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  10. ^ "Texas Tech, K-State basketball share Big 12 regular-season title". ncaa.com. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  11. ^ "Chris Beard and Jarrett Culver announced as Big 12 Coach and Player of the Year, Red Raider team takes Honors victories". ncaa.com. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
  12. ^ "Chris Beard's eye-popping new contract sends message on where Texas Tech sees itself as a program". 29 April 2019.
  13. ^ "Chris Beard named Men's Basketball head coach". TexasSports.com.
  14. ^ Angelo State University – Chris Beard Named Fifth Head Men's Basketball Coach in ASU History
  15. ^ Standings/Schedules
  16. ^ McMurry University War Hawks Athletics – Men's Basketball Comes Up Short In NCCAA Regional Final
  17. ^ Lone Star Conference – 2013–14 Men's Basketball Standings
  18. ^ Lone Star Conference – 2014–15 Men's Basketball Standings

External links[]

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