Indiana basketball coaching search profile: Chris Beard

Mike Woodson will step down as IU basketball coach after the 2024-25 season. Athletic director Scott Dolson is currently searching for the program’s 31st head coach.

Inside the Hall will examine many of the candidates being discussed for the job over the coming days and weeks. Our tenth profile takes a look at Ole Miss coach Chris Beard.

Previously: Dusty May, Scott Drew, Mick Cronin, Greg McDermott, Buzz Williams, T.J. Otzelberger, Ben McCollum, Tommy Lloyd, Brad Brownell

52-year-old Chris Beard has won everywhere he’s been in college basketball.

Beard got the coaching bug while a student at the University of Texas, where he worked as a manager under Tom Penders. He graduated from UT in 1995 and began coaching as a graduate assistant at Incarnate Word and an assistant at Abilene Christian and North Texas.

After brief head coaching stops at Fort Scott Community College and Seminole State Junior College, Beard got his first shot at the high-major level as an assistant coach at Texas Tech under Bob Knight.

Beard worked under Knight and later Pat Knight at Texas Tech for 10 seasons from 2001 through 2011. From Tech, Beard made stops at the South Carolina Warriors (ABA), McMurry University (Division III) and Angelo State (Division II) before landing his first head coaching job at the Divison I level at Little Rock.

In one season at Little Rock, Beard won 30 games and led the Trojans to an upset of Purdue in the 2016 NCAA tournament. Following that season, Beard accepted the UNLV job, but after Tubby Smith left Texas Tech for Memphis, Beard instead opted to return to Tech, where he previously spent 10 seasons.

Beard compiled a 112-55 record in five seasons at Texas Tech and made the NCAA tournament three times. In 2018, the Red Raiders advanced to the Elite Eight and in 2019, Tech, led by Jarrett Culver, reached the NCAA championship game, falling to Virginia 85-77 in overtime.

His high-level success at Tech made him an attractive candidate for his alma mater, Texas, which hired him in the spring of 2021.

Beard’s first – and only – season at Texas ended with a 22-12 record and a trip to the second round of the 2022 NCAA tournament. In December of 2022, Beard was arrested on charges of a third-degree felony assault against a family member for strangulation. The charges were later dismissed.

Texas terminated Beard less than a month later and sat out the 2022-23 season before being hired at his current post at the University of Mississippi in the spring of 2023. In two seasons at Ole Miss, Beard has compiled a 40-21 record and has the Rebels on pace for an NCAA tournament appearance this spring.

Beard’s teams have always been elite defensively. In his five seasons at Texas Tech, the Red Raiders had an adjusted defensive efficiency ranking in the top 18 nationally four times. In his only season at Texas, the Longhorns had a top-15 defense. He has Ole Miss on a similar defensive trajectory. After a rebuilding year in his first season in Oxford, Ole Miss is ranked inside the top 30 of KenPom and has a top-25 defense nationally.

Beard’s success at Texas Tech and the job he’s done at Ole Miss in two seasons – along with his ties to Knight – have made him a frequently discussed name for the IU opening.

Whether IU president Pamela Whitten and athletic director Scott Dolson will seriously consider him for the opening remains an open question. From a coaching standpoint, Beard is one of the best tacticians in the country and would likely thrive with the resources available in Bloomington.

Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino recently offered his strong support for Beard to be the next coach at Indiana.

“I wouldn’t even think about another person,” Pitino said. “He’s perfect for that job. He’s a tough, hard-nosed … the years I was sitting out (of coaching), I got friendly with him because he asked me – he didn’t know me, I didn’t know him – to come out and speak to his team. He was at Texas Tech. And I went out and spoke to them. And I watched two days of practice. And I always judge a coach by his practices. And I have to tell you, those were some of the best practices and meetings with his team that I’ve ever witnessed.

“So I am a gigantic fan of Chris Beard. I think he would kill it at Indiana. He’d have them in the top five to seven every single year. Remember, he brought Texas Tech to the championship game and could have won it if that young man didn’t that from Virginia that corner shot, that shot that he did hit. So he’s a superstar, top three coach in my estimation.”

(Photo credit: Ole Miss Athletics)

Category: Coaching search

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