Texas coach Chris Beard has big dreams for the Longhorns

By John Fanta
FOX Sports College Basketball Writer

It was another 100-degree afternoon in Austin, with the sun beaming down like there was no end in sight. Chris Beard pulled his Ford Bronco into the Arby’s drive-thru. In this type of heat, a pick-me-up snack was needed, and Beard had a roast beef sandwich on his mind.

But that wasn't the only thing on Beard’s mind as he started to daydream for a moment in the driver’s seat. 

"I was picturing the Texas Longhorns making the run to a Final Four," he said. "I think about it all the time, and it just hit me again at that moment. We want it so bad, and I take great responsibility to make it happen. I love Arby’s half-pounders, but I love pursuing those goals even more. Winning in the tournament is a feeling you can’t replicate."

Beard was enthralled, and suddenly … HONK!

"I was holding up that line, and somebody let me know about it," the Texas head coach said with a chuckle.

A long, winding road to Division I

The 49-year-old is home in Austin, where he fell in love with coaching while attending the university as an undergrad. Beard worked as a student assistant, learning the ropes under College Basketball Hall of Famer Tom Penders.

His passion for basketball really emerged in high school. Beard played football and baseball as well but loved being able to head to the courts in his hometown of Irving.

"You could play it by yourself in a driveway," Beard said when asked why he chose to pursue a life in basketball over the two other major sports. "Whereas with football and baseball, you needed to get a certain number of competitors to play a game, basketball was doable no matter how many people you had. We didn’t have cable TV when I was in high school, but WGN was available on our set, and Michael Jordan was on there all the time. He made me fall in love with the game, too." 

That love for the game has only strengthened as his career has gone on, and Beard understands as much as anyone what it takes to become a high-major Division I head coach.

He has been a graduate assistant at Incarnate Word and an assistant spot at North Texas, a head coach at Fort Scott Community College and Seminole State Junior College. He has been an associate head coach under Bob Knight at Texas Tech, and he made a stop in the ABA with the South Carolina Warriors. And he has held head-coaching jobs at Division II McMurry and Angelo State.

Beard saw it from all levels before he became a Division I head coach at Little Rock in 2015. 

"I do think our program represents junior college coaches," he said. "Division II features some outstanding coaches and atmospheres. I have an appreciation level for it and would not have wanted to go through this path to Texas in any other way. Anything that we can do to help the game of basketball and shed light on the other divisions and junior colleges, we are going to do. We represent a lot of people, and I’m proud of that."

A caretaker of the game

The role of being a protector of the game and growing the sport is something Beard takes seriously because he idolized Knight, John Thompson Jr. and Dean Smith when they were walking the sidelines.

"Those men had so much respect for college basketball. They grew the game. They did clinics. I look at those guys and marvel at the example that they set," Beard said. "I used to not really think about that part of being a head coach where I’m at, but going to the national title game in 2019 with Texas Tech and getting a lot of questions about the state of the sport, it made me rethink things. It’s something I do not take lightly, being a leader in this sport."

Beard is now tasked with elevating the Longhorns in the same way that he helped put the Red Raiders on the map. 

Before this past March, Texas had not won an NCAA Tournament game since 2014. That drought ended with a first-round victory over Virginia Tech, but winning a game or two in the Big Dance was not why Beard took over the program after things ended infamously under Shaka Smart era, with a stunning upset loss to Abilene Christian in the 2021 tournament.

The Longhorns have not been to a Sweet 16 since 2008. They haven’t been to a Final Four since 2003, and the time before that year was … 1947. In fact, the program ranks sixth nationally for total NCAA Tournament games won (36) without having won the national championship.

So, yes, while the brand is one of the strongest in college athletics, football remains king in Austin. Beard has been at the forefront of trying to change that. 

"This second summer in Austin [as the head coach] has been even busier than the first one," he said. "When you get a job, that first summer leading up to the season is such a whirlwind. You know you worked hard all day, but you don’t necessarily understand what it all is that you did. We tried to establish and build a culture last year. Now, it’s about defending and executing it. Defending it is even tougher than building it."

Beard believes his first year was a success, with the Longhorns finishing fourth in the Big 12, going 22-12 and winning a tournament game before bowing out to Purdue. Attendance at home games was at an all-time high — the program saw a student section increase and overall drew 235,563 fans through the season, the 14th-best number in the country.

Now, it’s about building on the groundwork. 

Building something big

The Longhorns' top two scorers return in fifth-year seniors Timmy Allen and Marcus Carr. Another fifth-year starter, Christian Bishop, is in his second year with the program after transferring from Creighton. He'll join Allen to lead the frontcourt. 

The Texas backcourt will be stacked with Carr back in the fold, in addition to Tyrese Hunter, who was one of the top transfers available. The 6-foot guard sprung on the scene at Iowa State as a freshman, averaging 11.0 points, 4.9 assists and 3.5 boards per game. He should step right in and be on the ball for the Longhorns.

And Hunter wasn’t the only transfer pickup made by Texas, as New Mexico State’s Sir’Jabari Rice has also taken his talents to Austin. The 6-foot-4, fifth-year guard averaged 11.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists for an Aggies team that upset UConn in the NCAA Tournament.

"Jabari Rice and Tyrese Hunter, both of those guys were our top two choices in the portal. That’s no b-------," said Beard. "We won the lottery in my mind. We got our top two guys. Tyrese is a true leader and point guard. He can and will be someone we rely upon to initiate our offense and create for others. As for Sir’Jabari Rice, not many people are talking about him now, but I promise you people will be talking about him soon. He has such a winning instinct." 

Beyond the returning players for the Longhorns, Texas has a true blend on the 2022-23 roster with the nation’s sixth-best incoming class according to 247 Sports. A pair of five-star recruits will bolster the Longhorns' backcourt, including Dillon Mitchell, the nation’s fifth-best incoming freshman, and point guard Arterio Morris. Both were McDonald’s All-Americans. 

It was Beard’s goal to complement the incoming freshmen with some impact transfers and quality returning players because in his mind, "recruiting classes don’t necessarily translate to winning in the NCAA Tournament."

Mitchell should start for Texas, while Morris will be a part of the rotation and could handle the ball with Hunter and Carr.

Beard’s passion was on full display when talking about Mitchell, a 6-foot-7 wing from Florida who won the Jordan Brand Classic MVP honors in April. 

"There will be a book written about Dillon Mitchell someday," said Beard. "I went into the office the other day and he was buying gift cards for managers and graduate assistants. Who does that? He has a humility and heart about him that’s second-to-none. His mother Jen and his coaches have done an incredible job with him, and he is a fun jokester on our team. Dillon loves gummy bears, and so he went out and found the world’s hottest gummy bear. He coerced one of our managers to take one and the guy’s face was turning different colors. It can’t be healthy. We may have to avoid doing that again."

Authentic passion for the sport and its future

This quote is a great representation of Beard. He does not hold anything back, has all kinds of stories to tell and possesses an authenticity that just says … Texas. 

He is committed to basketball, along with being a father to his three girls, Avery, Ella and Margo, and a partner to his fiancée, Randi.

"If I weren’t in coaching? I would be like Willie Nelson on the Seine River," said Beard. "That’s how I recruit, too. It’s a talent industry, but we like guys who love the game. I’ll be honest. I don’t want the backup plan guys. For me, I never saw an avenue outside of basketball, and we want our players to share that passion for the game."

In the midst of a lot of negativity surrounding the NCAA and the state of college basketball, from reports of a desire to change the tournament, to conference realignment, the transfer portal and NIL, Beard carries a glass-half-full mentality.

"College basketball is beautiful," he said. "When our game is executed well and accurately, it changes lives. I’m the head coach at Texas. It’s a dream come true. The opportunity to develop young men on and off the court is an amazing thing. At the core of it, we get to form relationships and enjoy friendships. We get to talk about overcoming adversity as a team. 

"As for the portal and NIL, I don’t think those things are bad," he continued. "It’s on us coaches to adapt and grow from these changes. People say that these things will kill college basketball or greatly damage college basketball. Those are the same people who said kids going straight from high school to the NBA would kill college basketball. They’re the same people who said a different 3-point line would be a killer for us. We live in a world that sells on negativity. There’s something to be said about positives, too. That’s why people adore a Twitter account like Rex Chapman('s) or a show like "Ted Lasso." College hoops has survived and thrived through those things, and it will forge on through this era as well.

"I don’t understand why people other than coaches and players control the game," Beard added when asked what he would do to develop the sport more. "Why can’t we get Tom Izzo, Jay Wright, Bill Self, Bob Huggins and Lon Kruger into a room to talk through the state of the game and figure out ways for us to better it? We need to get the six to eight to 10 most experienced head coaches together to talk through these things."

Beard is certainly progressive in one major area of the sport: non-conference scheduling. While the Longhorns are part of a conference in the Big 12 that’s accounted for the last two national champions and could be on track to have as many as four top-10 teams in the country in the upcoming season, Texas will face a number of challenges in their out-of-conference slate. 

The Longhorns will host Gonzaga on Nov. 16 before welcoming in Creighton on Dec. 1. They will meet Illinois on Dec. 6 at Madison Square Garden, a place that Beard wants to play at as frequently as possible. The Horns are committed to MSG for the 2022-23 season and are trying to get into The Garden for 2023-24 as well. Texas will also meet Stanford in Dallas on Dec. 18, and their SEC/Big 12 Challenge game is at Tennessee in January against former Longhorns coach Rick Barnes.

Amongst all the offseason activity, the program also gets to debut a new arena at the center of campus, the Moody Center, in addition to a new practice facility.

The $338 million arena, which will hold around 10,000 fans for basketball, replaces the 45-year-old Frank Erwin Center. University of Texas Minister of Culture, UT alum and actor Matthew McConaughey attended every one of the planning meetings for the building and played a huge role in developing the venue’s structure. 

"There’s no place like our new home," said Beard. "I’ve always thought wherever I’ve gone that we played at the best place in the country but frankly, this arena is unique and different. When you hear that Charles Attal and Matthew McConaughey drew it up, it’s easy to picture those two Texas guys having a Budweiser on the lake and putting it all together. It’s literally right in the middle of campus, right next to dorms. We didn’t just build a venue and stick it downtown. It’s on the UT campus. Matthew wanted it to be the first place a musician would want to play in the U.S. and the last place any team would want to play Texas in."

The venue is designed to have 270 degrees of the lower bowl as the student section, with both baselines and one sideline section designated for only those currently attending UT.

The sky is the limit

Beard hopes that a new home will help turn a new leaf for Texas basketball, a venue where Final Four banners will hang.

Does the second-year Longhorns head coach believe that his team can be one of the last four standing in Houston in April 2023? 

"Absolutely. Without question," said Beard. "I absolutely believe we can be in Houston and I told our players that last week. With who we have back and the class we have coming in, combined with winning transfer players and a deep amount of guards, I like the way things have come together. The word ‘expectation’ is something people don’t think enough about. If I tell you to go into a gym and shoot, you’ll do that. What if I tell you to head into the gym and make 50 in a row? That’s lifting the expectations, and we do not shy away from it here. We can’t, and we won’t." 

Texas should be a preseason top-15 team when the polls come out, and the Longhorns will likely be situated in the top four of the Big 12. Baylor and Kansas are again poised for big seasons, and TCU brings back a veteran core and could be a top-10 team. The Horns certainly could be a second-weekend team in the NCAA Tournament — the next step for Beard to take — and it will be interesting to see how Hunter and Carr coexist, and if Mitchell and the freshmen can live up to high expectations. 

Beyond this year’s Texas team lies the overarching storyline of a coaching star in college basketball whose journey is nothing short of remarkable and unique. Beard declined to get into his plans for the next rungs of his career ladder, but he shared his philosophy on how he’s approached his coaching life.

"I can’t really ever imagine anything other than tomorrow. When I got my first job at Incarnate Word, I thought to myself, ‘hey, I made it man.’ I’ve felt that way about each opportunity I’ve gotten," he said. "There’s no other way to answer the question other than I feel like the upcoming day is really important, and the upcoming season is really important. I take the responsibility to build this program up at Texas, and to leave every job I take better than I found it. Getting Texas to Final Fours and competing for national championships is the goal." 

This vision is really rooted back to one sentence that Beard thinks about constantly, whether he’s in the middle of practice or sitting at Arby’s. 

"I hate to lose more than I like to win. That’s who I am, and it’s who I’ll always be." 

John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him on Twitter @John_Fanta.