Chris Beard enters his third season as head coach and his 13th season overall with the Texas Tech men’s basketball program. He was named the program’s 17th head coach on April 15, 2016 by Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt and Interim University President Dr. John Opperman.
Beard elevated the Red Raiders to an elite level of success following a 27-10 record and the program’s first NCAA Elite Eight trip in 2017-18. The 27 wins are the second-highest in program history only behind the 30-2 mark put together by the 1995-96 team under James Dickey. He came away as the 2018 Big 12 Co-Coach of the Year, the 2018 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 8 Coach of the Year, the 2018 United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) District VII Coach of the Year and the 2018 John McClendon National Coach of the Year award recipient.
Beard agreed to a six-year, $19.05 million dollar contract in March 2018 that locks him up as Texas Tech’s head coach through the 2023-24 season. The Red Raiders have seen a significant increase in season ticket sales under Beard, and the program’s average attendance surged to over 10,000 fans per game in 2017-18 for the first time dating back to 2006-07.
Over his first two seasons in Lubbock, Beard has captured 45 victories which is tied with Bob Knight for the most wins in program history for a coach during their first two seasons. He has already picked up 11 wins over AP Top 25 opponents, the second-highest total for a head coach in program history and shattering the program’s record during a two-year span. Beard also has been a part of 13 of Texas Tech’s 20 wins over AP Top 10 foes as either a head coach or an assistant coach.
Beard’s roots in Lubbock and West Texas run deep. He spent 10 years at Texas Tech which included seven seasons as an assistant coach under Hall of Fame Coach Bob Knight and three seasons as an associate head coach under Pat Knight. He was on the Texas Tech bench on January 1, 2007, when the Red Raiders defeated New Mexico making Bob Knight the NCAA’s men’s all-time career wins leader.
Raised in Irving, Texas, Beard’s coaching career began in the Lone Star State as a graduate assistant at Incarnate Ward followed by a pair of assistant coaching stints at Abilene Christian and North Texas. He worked under the guidance of Danny Kasper at UIW, Shanon Hays at ACU and Vic Trilli at UNT.
Beard earned his Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology from the University of Texas in 1995 where he worked as a student assistant for Tom Penders. He completed his master’s degree in education from Abilene Christian in 1998.
Beard played his high school basketball for Mike Kunstadt at Irving High School and for Terry Priest at McCullough High School. He has three daughters: Avery, Ella and Margo.
Chris Beard
