As the Texas Tech Red Raiders prepare to kick off the Big 12 portion of their schedule on Tuesday, news about a former coach and his reason for leaving surfaces.
In April 2021, Chris Beard left Texas Tech to become the head coach at the University of Texas in Austin. This was five years almost exactly to the day that he accepted the head coaching job in Lubbock – just less than three weeks after accepting the same position at UNLV.
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His beginning at Tech didn’t come without controversy. He accepted the Red Raiders job after it became available when Tubby Smith left for Memphis. The coach cited his 10 seasons as an assistant at Tech and close proximity to his family as the reason for moving on from UNLV so quickly.
Many were surprised when he left Lubbock to move to Austin, and Beard recently discussed the move on the Field of 68
podcast.
“That decision was basically just simply stated the next challenge in my career,” Beard explained. “Everybody just remembers the five as a head coach. But the 10 years with Coach and Pat were real, with a lot of success,” he said, referencing his earlier roles as an assistant coach under Bobby Knight and Pat Knight
During his 15 seasons as an assistant and as head coach in Lubbock, Beard made countless contributions to the program and was proud of leaving it in better shape than it was when he arrived.
“I was proud of leaving the program in Lubbock better than we found it,” Beard said. “I was proud of my 15 years there.”
He continued that his decision to leave had nothing to do with the town or the job itself.
“At that time in my life, in my career, I wasn’t leaving Lubbock for any reason. I was just taking another opportunity, the challenge involved in the next job,” he said.
Beard’s time with the Longhorns was cut short by off-the-court issues in 2023 before he took the job at Ole Miss, revitalizing that program since.
