Texas Tech Basketball: Mighty smart move to lock in Chris Beard long-term
By Neil Adler
Texas Tech Basketball has inked a contract extension with head coach Chris Beard, an extremely wise decision given his recent success with the Red Raiders.
Chris Beard has served as a Division I head coach for just four stanzas, and the last three seasons have come with Texas Tech Basketball. Now, in this short duration of time, he’s risen to become one of the top-compensated hoops bosses in the country.
The university’s athletics department has announced that Beard signed a new six-year contract that runs through the 2024-25 term and will average, on an annual basis, $4.575 million. According to USA Today’s online database of 2019 salaries earned by men’s basketball head coaches, Beard’s new deal will slot him third nationally, trailing only Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Kentucky’s John Calipari. That’s vastly impressive company for Beard, this past campaign’s Associated Press Coach of the Year who guided the Red Raiders to the national-title tilt in 2019 and an Elite Eight appearance in 2018.
For Texas Tech, getting a multi-year extension from Beard at this juncture is pivotal. Given his Big Dance achievements, a school-record 31 victories in 2018-19 despite losing the majority of the team’s scoring from the prior term, and an overall mark of 76-31 in three stanzas in Lubbock, Texas, Beard is a totally hot commodity in coaching circles, and it wouldn’t have surprised me one iota if a powerhouse unit attempted to snag him sooner rather than later.
“In only three years, Chris Beard has elevated Texas Tech to the upper echelon of college basketball,” says Kirby Hocutt, the university’s athletics director, in the Red Raiders’ press release. “I am appreciative of the continued loyalty and personal commitment that Chris has made to continue to lead our program into the future.”
Next. Offseason storylines for Texas Tech. dark
Known for implementing one of the most-stifling defenses in all of collegiate hoops in the 2018-19 campaign, Beard and his crew went on a tremendous journey in the recently concluded March Madness, defeating premier groups such as Buffalo, Michigan, Gonzaga and Michigan State before falling to Virginia in overtime in the championship affair.