Belmont Basketball: Rick Byrd retires after 33 years as head coach

Let’s take a closer look at the fantastic coaching career of Rick Byrd while also examining what Belmont will do in their first coaching search in three decades.

Following an incredible run with the Bruins, Rick Byrd has decided to retire after 33 years leading Belmont. He led the Bruins to their first NCAA Tournament victory, leading this program from NAIA to yearly OVC contender during his tenure. He was ranked 64th in our early season head coach rankings and has certainly deserved all the praise that he’s gotten over these years.

Now a member of the Tennessee basketball Hall of Fame, Byrd’s entire career has come in the state. After graduating from Tennessee, he left Knoxville to become an assistant coach at Maryville. He spent two years as an assistant before two years as head coach at the D-III school. Byrd then spent three years as an assistant at Tennessee Tech and three years leading D-II Lincoln Memorial. In 1986, he was hired as head coach at Belmont, a brilliant decision for the unheralded program.

Back then, Belmont was just a small NAIA college buried in the Nashville sports scene. Byrd quickly built them into an NAIA contender and dominated the Tennessee Collegiate Athletic Conference. After that fantastic run, Belmont made the jump as an NCAA independent in 1996. The growing pains were understandable, and the Bruins won just 58 games in their first five seasons. However, there were much brighter days ahead for Byrd.

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The Bruins joined the Atlantic Sun in 2001. During their eleven years in the conference, they transformed from NCAA newbie to A-Sun overlord. The Bruins finished in the top three of the league all but that first year, winning the conference championship five times. Belmont couldn’t pull off any upsets in the NCAA Tournament, but were an impressive 153-55 in conference play.

Byrd led Belmont upwards even further when they joined the OVC in 2012, immediately winning the league in their first season. They would make the NCAA or NIT in six of Byrd’s seven years in the OVC, culminating in this season’s at-large bid and First Four win over Temple. It may have taken decades, but Byrd finally had his NCAA Tournament win.

Byrd was no stranger to winning, racking up 805 career victories, including 713 during his historic run at Belmont. At the time of his retirement, only three other D-1 coaches had been at their current schools longer. His team finished first or second in conference play each of the last 14 seasons and made postseason appearances a regular thing in Nashville. His best work came late in his career, and he led the Bruins to a 97-19 mark in OVC play. Just over twenty years ago, this was an NAIA team, but Byrd transformed them into one of the nation’s most potent mid-major programs.

The Bruins face their first head coaching search in over three decades, but a pair of familiar names immediately rise to the top of the list. His team fell in the A-Sun title game, but Lipscomb head coach Casey Alexander has proven that he’s a great coach, winning 28 games this season. Alexander played for Byrd and spent 16 seasons on the Belmont bench before leaving for Stetson and then Lipscomb. Some may argue that moving across town from Lipscomb to Belmont isn’t a big enough jump, but this would all be about going home for Alexander.

Another fantastic option for the coaching job is someone who wouldn’t have to move at all. Associate head coach Brian Ayers has spent the last 21 years on Byrd’s staff. Ayers played his college ball at Lipscomb and coached briefly in the area before landing in Belmont. He has experience with the athletics department and staff and has stood as a fantastic coach at post-play.

This Belmont team will lose senior studs Dylan Windler (21.3 ppg, 10.8 rpg) and Kevin McClain (16.8 ppg, 3.9 apg), but will bring back a host of young players. The cupboard is certainly not empty, and the next head coach at Belmont will be set up to build on Byrd’s progress. This Bruins team has never won a game in the round of 64, and that’s a goal that’s within reach in the next few seasons.

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Byrd couldn’t quite pull off that first round upset, getting extremely close this year against Maryland, but don’t hold that against him. What he’s done with this program has been legendary. He was a 2019 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame candidate and his work in Nashville will never be forgotten. Byrd won a lot of games and conference titles and he has set the Bruins up well for the future.

Belmont Basketball: Rick Byrd retires after 33 years as head coach of Bruins

By Joey Loose | Apr 1, 2019

Let’s take a closer look at the fantastic coaching career of Rick Byrd while also examining what Belmont will do in their first coaching search in three decades.

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