chris beard might be the best coach in college hoops

Chris Beard has been in the coaching game for a long time now, but never really has gotten the respect he deserved from the public. From his time at Texas Tech, I always thought he was in the running for the best coach in the entire sport.

Then, he took the job at the University of Texas when Shaka Smart decided to go to Marquette, and I fully believed that he was going to make a dynasty out of the Longhorns. Then, a domestic dispute left him out of a job, and almost for good.

He was given the head coaching job at Ole Miss this offseason, and has already brought a program that has gone 76-82 over the last five seasons, with only six winning seasons in the last ten years, to a 10-0 start and their first time being ranked in the AP Poll since 2019.

I’m not sure how Beard isn’t considered an elite coach after this. But, let’s take a look back at his career before this.

Before making the jump to Division I, Chris coached for a year at NCCAA McMurry and two years at Division II Angelo State. He got his first D-I job at Arkansas-Little Rock, where in his only season there, brought the team from a 13-18 record the season before to a 30-5 record and a trip to the NCAA Tournament where it would upset 5-seed Purdue and advance to the Round of 32.

He then went to Lubbock, Texas to take the job at Texas Tech, where he again found success. Across his five years as head coach for the Red Raiders, he went 112-55, bringing Texas Tech to an Elite 8 in 2018 and then bringing his guys all the way to the National Championship in 2019, where it was one rough foul call away from winning a title. Before Chris came to town, the Red Raiders had made the NCAA Tournament only once in the previous five seasons.

He then pulled off one of the most dramatic moves of the 2021 offseason, taking the head coaching job at his alma mater, the University of Texas.

Beard went 22-12 in his first season in Austin, trying to bring a program back to national relevance that hadn’t been to the Sweet Sixteen since 1997. And unfortunately, it was short-lived. After a 7-1 start to his second year at the helm in Austin, a domestic violence case ultimately lost him his job, and many thought he would never be back.

But, it was later cleared up, and he headed to Oxford, Mississippi to take over at Ole Miss. And simply put, he’s wasted no time getting his new team back to national relevance.

Ole Miss is 10-0 and ranked in the Ap Top 25 for the first time since 2019. After being picked 10th in the SEC Preseason Poll, Beard, in his first season, is going to have the Rebels fighting at the top of the conference and hopefully bring it back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.

The Rebels have beaten quality teams such as Memphis and NC State, and are ranked top 30 nationally in Effective Field Goal Percentage Defense, 3 point percentage, and 3 point defense according to kenpom.com. He has a guy playing at an All-Conference level in Allen Flanigan, two other double-digit scorers in Matthew Murrell and Jaylen Murray, and an all-around talented team to make it to the postseason.

So, in his ninth year as a Division I head coach, Chris Beard has a 246-98 record, has brought each school he’s been to to the NCAA Tournament, and that includes an Elite 8 run and a run to the National Championship game with Texas Tech.

I’m not sure how Chris is not just in the tier of elite coaches, but in the conversation for the best coach in the country, and I think it’s time that changes.

*all information and statistics taken from wikipedia.com and espn.com*