The Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team could be looking for a new head coach in 2020-2021 but Texas Tech’s Chris Beard is a pipe dream.
Reports recently surfaced about the Cleveland Cavaliers possibility of mutually parting ways with John Beilein, a realistic option for the Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team after a decision is made on Shaka Smart. Another name that is circulating as a potential replacement is Texas Tech’s Chris Beard, but that isn’t a realistic or viable option for Texas.
There isn’t a hotter name in college basketball than Chris Beard over the last couple of years. The 2019 AP Coach of the Year would be a huge get for his Alma Mater, the University of Texas. He spent time in Austin as a graduate assistant under Tom Penders for four seasons. Eventually landing at Tech in 2001 where he spent 10 years as the associate head coach under legendary coach Bob Knight and his son Pat Knight.
His resume in his latest stop is quite impressive. Beard took over in 2016 after Tubby Smith left the Red Raiders, since then he led Tech to 92-39 record and 8-2 in the NCAA Tournament. Texas Tech went to the Elite Eight the following year and the NCAA Runner Up in 2018-2019 season. He has done more in two years than Shaka Smart has ever done, but could Texas actually coax him out of Lubbock?
He has built an annual contender in the Big 12. After a National Championship run that saw a big chunk of the roster leave to the NBA and G League, Beard reloaded the roster with freshman standout Jahmi’us Ramsey leading the charge. Not to mention the incoming class is the best that Tech has had in Lubbock.
The university has also started building their new basketball facility that will open in 2021. It was a huge part of aiming to keep Chris Beard in Lubbock for the foreseeable future. The new facility will also be a huge key in getting recruits to choose Texas Tech over other universities in the future.
However, the biggest hurdle at this point is relieving Smart of his duties as the head coach but that will prove costly. Shaka signed a seven-year deal that is paying him around $3 million/per year to take over after the Rick Barnes dismissal.
After one-year in Austin, Smart received a contract extension to keep him in Austin through the 2022-2023 season, which in hindsight doesn’t look like the best of moves. Prior to the season his buyout was about $12.9 million to get out of his contract. That would be quite the payday to go a new route. Couple that with Beard’s buyout, makes the move even more of a pipe dream.
Texas Tech made the move to make Chris Beard the third-highest paid coach in college basketball behind Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) and Mike Calipari (Kentucky). The buyout for Beard would be massive, Texas would have to dish out over $30 million just to bring him to Austin. That check might be too large to justify for a program that only brought in a small portion of their revenue.
For that reason alone, Texas fans should move on from their dream of Beard rescuing his alma mater’s basketball program.
