Busting Brackets
Fansided

Texas Tech Basketball: Head coach Chris Beard’s fast track to stardom

By Jason Burgess

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 30: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders cuts the net after defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament West Regional at Honda Center on March 30, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 30: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders cuts the net after defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament West Regional at Honda Center on March 30, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 5
Next
KANSAS CITY, MO – MARCH 08: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts from the bench during the first round game of the Big 12 Basketball Tournament against the Texas Longhorns at the Sprint Center on March 8, 2017 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MO – MARCH 08: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts from the bench during the first round game of the Big 12 Basketball Tournament against the Texas Longhorns at the Sprint Center on March 8, 2017 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

Beard returned to Division I at Little Rock

In 2015 Beard returned to the Division I level for the first time since 2011, this time as the head coach at Little Rock, a member of the Sun Belt Conference. After going 13-18 the season before Beard’s arrival, the Trojans engineered a remarkable turnaround, finishing the year at 30-5, with Sun Belt regular season and tournament titles thanks to a 17-3 mark against conference opponents. In their NCAA Tournament appearance, they knocked off No. 5 Purdue in a double-overtime thriller before falling to Iowa State in the second round.

The Trojans began the year 10-1, with the only non-conference loss coming at the hands of a team Beard was familiar with, Texas Tech, where he had spent over a decade as an associate head coach. They began conference play by winning 11 of their first 12, and after a loss at Louisiana-Monroe just before Valentine’s Day, Beard and his team would get tripped up in their regular-season finale before taking home the conference tournament title.

Throughout the year though, Beard’s defense was like a 20-foot boa squeezing the life out of their opponents. In their 33 games prior to the NCAA Tournament, Trojan opponents failed to crack the 70-point plateau 28 times and in 19 of those games, they didn’t even reach 60.

Home/Texas Tech Red Raiders