Texas Tech Basketball: Why Chris Beard jumped from Las Vegas to Lubbock

Chris Beard is the new head coach of the Texas Tech basketball program…19 days after accepting the job at UNLV.

The coaching carousel is in full effect.

Chris Beard officially accepted the UNLV head coaching position 19 days ago after the team was denied by Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin. Beard’s contract took 11 days to finalize, but the Rebels thought they signed a coach who was committed to bringing UNLV basketball back to the Big Dance.

Instead, pure drama unfolded over the last week. After dealing with high expectations at Memphis, Josh Pastner was hired at Georgia Tech. This soon set up Tubby Smith’s jump to Memphis – a school that has great facilities, a strong fan base and terrific high school talent in the state.

Texas Tech suddenly had a major void and Beard couldn’t resist. He was an assistant for 10 years under Bob Knight, his three daughters currently live two hours from Lubbock and the Red Raiders offered double the amount he would’ve received at UNLV ($900,000).

Beard clearly needs to find a home, as he spent just one season at Arkansas Little Rock and has had SEVEN head coaching positions at SEVEN different schools since 2011 (!).

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But you can’t really blame a head coach for wanting to be closer to his family, caring about his daughters and maximizing his high stock on the coaching market. These professionals have so many responsibilities that it’s often tough to balance family life while also overlooking a program.

Think about everything that is involved in being the head man at a University – recruiting, developing players, overlooking the program, representing sometimes an entire city and coaching 30 to 35 basketball games per season. Because of the late working nights and trips on the road for extended periods of time, these professional often have very little spare time.

And in UNLV’s case, isn’t it better they grab a coach that is committed and all-in in regards to their program? Isn’t it better that they attract a coach that will bring the up-tempo style of play that the Runnin’ Rebels want their program to win with?

The hiring of Beard seemed forced and it was never a good fit (at least in my opinion). The Rebels lost out on Cronin and with just two scholarship players on the roster, they needed to find a head coach rather quickly. On top of that, Beard didn’t have any recruiting ties on the West Coast and was only a collegiate head coach for one season.

While Beard will deal with a wrath of critics, Texas Tech is his dream job.

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Discuss the NCAA rules that allow coaches to jump ship without penalty while making players sit out a season after transferring, but it’s awfully tough to criticize a man for wanting to live closer to his family.

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