Report: Chris Beard hired as head basketball coach at Texas

[HornSports Staff 1,741]

Longhorns land their top coaching target in Texas Tech's Chris Beard less than a week after the job became vacant

The University of Texas has hired Texas Tech's Chris Beard as its next basketball coach, according to Stadium's Jeff Goodman.

The hiring of Beard comes less than a week after former UT head coach Shaka Smart left Austin and accepted the same position at Marquette.  Smart's decision to move to Marquette saved the university $7.1 million in buyout money on Smart's contract that spanned through the 2023 season.

Beard, a Texas alumnus, spent the last five seasons in Lubbock.  He led the Red Raiders to an overall 112-55 record, including a spot in the Championship Game in 2019.  During his time in Lubbock he guided his teams to the NCAA Tournament in three out of four opportunities, including an Elite 8 berth in 2018.

Beard began his coaching career as a student assistant under former Texas coach Tom Penders.  After several graduate assistant roles and assistant coaching positions at a handful of schools, Beard became the head coach at McMurry University in Abilene, TX in 2012. His subsequent head coaching positions were at Angelo State and Little Rock before he took over the Texas Tech program in 2016.

April 1st was a key date in Beard's contract at Texas Tech, due to his buyout with the school dropping from $5 million to $4 million on his contract.

Beard was Texas AD Chris Del Conte's top choice to replace Shaka Smart who was at Texas for 6 years and made the NCAA Tournament in just three of those years.  The Longhorns were ousted in the first round in each of those appearances.

We expect an official release from UT soon.

 

 

[gmcc 194]

Removed

[TexCoyote 1,319]

Hope he can pick some of the transfer portal, because our roster is going to be slim. 

[TexCoyote 1,319]

58 minutes ago, TexCoyote said:

Hope he can pick some of the transfer portal, because our roster is going to be slim. 

 

[TexCoyote 1,319]

We aren’t trying to keep up with the Jones. We’re the Jones- DeLoss Dodd

[TB14 620]

Great day to be a Horn!

[TB14 620]

1 hour ago, TexCoyote said:

Hope he can pick some of the transfer portal, because our roster is going to be slim. 

Transfer Portal is loaded. He should add at least 2-3 good players.

[tejasrulz 3,109]

2 hours ago, TexCoyote said:

Hope he can pick some of the transfer portal, because our roster is going to be slim. 

Agreed. He left a loaded team (I believe Tech will only lose 1 senior) to take over a depleted one.

[Sirhornsalot 14,789]

I'm excited about the hire but due to what has happened to our roster, he'll have his work cut out for him.

[Aaron Carrara 3,064]

 

[TB14 620]

Seeing Chris Ogden is coming home to coach with Beard. That is a big hire! He was always one of Rick Barnes' top assistants

[Wayne 324]

9 minutes ago, Sirhornsalot said:

I'm excited about the hire but due to what has happened to our roster, he'll have his work cut out for him.

Currently, there are over 1,000 basket ball players in the transfer portal.  A couple of them are/were Red Raiders who entered the portal today.

  

[Soldierhorn 490]

 

[primal defense 4,694]

We will be in good shape if we can a number of these recruits.

Recruits and transfers Chris Beard should prioritize with the Longhorns

 

https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/Texas-hires-Chris-Beard-basketball-recruiting-recruits--163337511/#163337511_1

[Soldierhorn 490]

 

[Sirhornsalot 14,789]

1 hour ago, Soldierhorn said:

 

 

 

[HornSports Staff 1,741]

Beard’s statement on accepting the job:

“I’m thrilled and excited to be coming back to Austin and back to the Longhorn family,” Beard said. “I can’t express how excited I am for this opportunity and the journey that lies ahead. I want to thank President Hartzell and Athletics Director Chris Del Conte for their trust. It’s time to get to work. Our top priority will be embracing our players as soon as we get to campus, and I look forward to starting this journey together towards our championship goals.”

[primal defense 4,694]

2 hours ago, Soldierhorn said:

 

 

I feel for the guy unless I find out he's jerk. He just saw his department lose a lot of money today.

 

He's helping UT by making sure that UT fans will go to the TT game. Too bad he didn't threaten to send Tech fans to every Texas home game.

[DBut82 1,237]

4 hours ago, primal defense said:

We will be in good shape if we can a number of these recruits.

Recruits and transfers Chris Beard should prioritize with the Longhorns

 

https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/Texas-hires-Chris-Beard-basketball-recruiting-recruits--163337511/#163337511_1

Yo! This is bananas! Jayson Tyson's mother and I are good friends. I was literally just joking with her about him needing to decommit and sign with the good guys. Then I came here and saw this article. NUTS! I absolutely shot this article to her and said make it happen! Lol!

[83Dee 1,451]

13 hours ago, Aaron Carrara said:

 

Was Ogden on the hot seat?  Maybe this comes from a lack of knowledge but I don’t see this as a career advancement move?  Nevertheless, I’m glad he’s on board.  Great personality! 

[83Dee 1,451]

10 hours ago, primal defense said:

We will be in good shape if we can a number of these recruits.

Recruits and transfers Chris Beard should prioritize with the Longhorns

 

https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/Texas-hires-Chris-Beard-basketball-recruiting-recruits--163337511/#163337511_1

Nab the top players in Texas for each class, and become an out of state presence.  What an outside the box and realistic idea for Texas to get on top in basketball!  I bet nobody has thought of this before.

Let’s hope Chris Beard reads this article! 

[primal defense 4,694]

8 hours ago, DBut82 said:

Yo! This is bananas! Jayson Tyson's mother and I are good friends. I was literally just joking with her about him needing to decommit and sign with the good guys. Then I came here and saw this article. NUTS! I absolutely shot this article to her and said make it happen! Lol!

Do you have any bagman experience?

[primal defense 4,694]

 

[Soldierhorn 490]

Huge endorsement.  

 

[TB14 620]

Seeing rumors that Rodney Terry is also possibly leaving the UTEP HC job to come back to Texas. That would give Texas 2 proven high level assistants on staff who can recruit.

Like with football, I'm not worried about recruiting. I'm worried about development and in game coaching decisions. Beard wins with less. Shaka lost with more.

Recruiting will be fine. Hell, Beard started even recruiting at a high level 3 years ago when they started winning. He will recruit fine.