Chris Beard (basketball)

Christopher Michael Beard (born February 18, 1973)[1] is an American basketball coach and the current head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. He previously coached Little Rock, Angelo State, and McMurry. Beard graduated from high school from McCullough High School in The Woodlands, Texas. He was a manager at the University of Texas at Austin under Texas 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.

Chris Beard
Beard coaching Texas Tech in 2019
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamTexas Tech
ConferenceBig 12
Record94–40
Annual salary$4.575 million
Biographical details
Born (1973-02-18) February 18, 1973
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–presentTexas Tech
Head coaching record
Overall190–70 (college)
44–18 (junior college)
Tournaments9–3 (NCAA Division I)
2–1 (NCAA Division II)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Awards

Under Beard's watch, the Red Raiders have made the deepest NCAA Tournament runs in school history. In 2019, the 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 assistant at Texas and a graduate assistant at Incarnate Word and Abilene Christian, Beard was an assistant coach at North Texas 1997–1999.

From there, he 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, he 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] In 2012, he was hired as head coach at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas where he spent one season. 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.[5] 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.[6] 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[7] 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.[8]

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.[9] 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.[10] 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.

For his efforts, on April 29, 2019 Beard signed a six-year extension worth more than $4.5 million a season[11], becoming the third-highest-paid college basketball coach in the country.

Family

Beard has three daughters, Avery, Ella, and Margo.[12]

Head coaching record
Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
McMurry War Hawks (Heartland Conference) (2012–2013)
2012–13 McMurry 19–1010–8None[13]NCCAA Regional Final[14]
McMurry: 19–10 (.655)10–8 (.556)
Angelo State Rams (Lone Star Conference) (2013–2015)
2013–14 Angelo State 19–98–63rd[15]
2014–15 Angelo State 28–611–32nd[16]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 30–517–31stNCAA Division I Round of 32
Little Rock: 30–5 (.857)17–3 (.850)
Texas Tech Red Raiders (Big 12 Conference) (2016–present)
2016–17 Texas Tech 18–146–12T–7th
2017–18 Texas Tech 27–1011–7T–2ndNCAA Division I Elite Eight
2018–19 Texas Tech 31–714–4T–1stNCAA Division I Runner-Up
2019–20 Texas Tech 18–139–9T–3rd
Texas Tech: 94–44 (.681)40–32 (.556)
Total:190-74 (.720)

      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
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-12-29. Retrieved 2013-03-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Anderson, Mark (March 27, 2016). "UNLV picks Beard as new basketball coach". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
  6. Goodman, Jeff (April 16, 2016). "Chris Beard hired by Texas Tech weeks after accepting UNLV job". ESPN.
  7. http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game?gameId=400989273
  8. "Red Raiders Make School History". texastech.com. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  9. "Texas Tech, K-State basketball share Big 12 regular-season title". ncaa.com. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  10. "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.
  11. https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/college-sports/collegesports/2019/04/29/chris-beards-eye-popping-new-contract-sends-message-texas-tech-sees-program
  12. Angelo State University – Chris Beard Named Fifth Head Men's Basketball Coach in ASU History
  13. Standings/Schedules
  14. McMurry University War Hawks Athletics – Men's Basketball Comes Up Short In NCCAA Regional Final
  15. Lone Star Conference – 2013–14 Men's Basketball Standings
  16. Lone Star Conference – 2014–15 Men's Basketball Standings
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