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UT's next basketball coach - discussion/debate


alphahorn

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I think at this point the media would say we hired him but I don’t think where we are right now as a athletic department the media gives two shits who we hire in basketball. It’s not like it will dominate the final 4 headlines like a Kansas or Kentucky hire would. I’ve had a few drinks tonight too so I’m kinda pissed off. Fucking Shaka. What a con artist.

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1 hour ago, shadow_operative said:

this entire tourney run to the Final Four they have looked exactly like some of Barnes's uglier (but good) teams. just terrible offense that relies extremely heavily on turning missed shots into second and third chance points, combined with really good defense and rebounding. it's  it aesthetically pleasing at all. 

To me, Gonzaga is the exception.  Their offense is fun to watch.  Agree on the rest of the tourney.

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51 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

I think at this point the media would say we hired him but I don’t think where we are right now as a athletic department the media gives two shits who we hire in basketball. It’s not like it will dominate the final 4 headlines like a Kansas or Kentucky hire would. I’ve had a few drinks tonight too so I’m kinda pissed off. Fucking Shaka. What a con artist.

I think you’re drunk.

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3 hours ago, ShowMeALoss said:

We are reaching out to Barnes and Derka has been retained to lead the negotiations. My sources tell me Barnes wants a 5 year contract extension for every first round loss in the tourney.

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UH is cheating their ass off. One of my wife’s cousins from the Dallas area went to school with a UH player and he was paid to go there.
Not attacking here TN, but since you aren't doxxing somebody you know, who is the player? I was really curious and went through a few years of signed recruits back to 2018 and no player really stood out to go to Duke or Kansas and chose Houston possibly because of money.

Maybe you can elaborate here.
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Not attacking here TN, but since you aren't doxxing somebody you know, who is the player? I was really curious and went through a few years of signed recruits back to 2018 and no player really stood out to go to Duke or Kansas and chose Houston possibly because of money.

Maybe you can elaborate here.

You’re trying to nail down the specifics of a “Simone from Ferris Buehler” story?
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3 hours ago, Lobo said:

The only strange thing about this timing... this is not the kinda thing you wanna announce on a Good Friday afternoon...is it?  Just from a logistical/get as much good media as possible standpoint.  I guess Monday then?  


You worried that Jesus will be all snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug in his man cave already by the time the news breaks and that he won't hear about it until Sunday?

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2 hours ago, ShowMeALoss said:

Houston is proving to everyone that they too can go toe to toe with one of P5's elite cheaters. 👏

It's easier to do in Basketball than Football.

From number 85 (+ PWOs) to 13 players

To equipment

To practice fields

To locker room & weight room...

It's easier to cheat successfully in basketball than in football, so...

...why aren't we doing it better than we are?

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1 hour ago, ClubWhatever said:

Wait.  Didn’t you say upthread he was in?

I said I believe the deal was basically done on Saturday. Unless Tech came forward with something Texas didn’t want to match....

My personal thought is can Texas afford not to match? This is a unique opportunity with the arena opening soon. 

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10 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

this entire tourney run to the Final Four they have looked exactly like some of Barnes's uglier (but good) teams. just terrible offense that relies extremely heavily on turning missed shots into second and third chance points, combined with really good defense and rebounding. it's  it aesthetically pleasing at all. 

Aesthetically pleasing?  You've obviousy never played basketball at a high level.  If you had, you would appreciate the beauty of a complete team buy-in.  A team that sells-out for offensive rebounds and defense.  A team that will unselfishly move the ball to find the best offensive opportunity.  This is the brand of baseketball of Sampson, Few, Drew, Wright, Bennett and Beard.  That group includes coaches that will have won the last three NCAA basketball championships.

Man, when I watched UH attack that vaunted Syracuse 2-3 matchup, I found that aesthetically pleasing.

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10 minutes ago, Harry Waters said:

Aesthetically pleasing?  You've obviousy never played basketball at a high level.  If you had, you would appreciate the beauty of a complete team buy-in.  A team that sells-out for offensive rebounds and defense.  A team that will unselfishly move the ball to find the best offensive opportunity.  This is the brand of baseketball of Sampson, Few, Drew, Wright, Bennett and Beard.  That group includes coaches that will have won the last three NCAA basketball championships.

Man, when I watched UH attack that vaunted Syracuse 2-3 matchup, I found that aesthetically pleasing.

This right here.

I would rather watch this than the NBA style of come down, make one pass, maybe, and shoot a three. That type of basketball sucks ass.

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27 minutes ago, Harry Waters said:

Aesthetically pleasing?  You've obviousy never played basketball at a high level.  If you had, you would appreciate the beauty of a complete team buy-in.  A team that sells-out for offensive rebounds and defense.  A team that will unselfishly move the ball to find the best offensive opportunity.  This is the brand of baseketball of Sampson, Few, Drew, Wright, Bennett and Beard.  That group includes coaches that will have won the last three NCAA basketball championships.

Man, when I watched UH attack that vaunted Syracuse 2-3 matchup, I found that aesthetically pleasing.

Couldn't agree more.  Now I like a fast paced game but I can also appreciate a Princeton Offense as well.  Remember going to the FEC to see them play Texas and you get to see how it works when executed properly.  

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"Aesthetically pleasing" basketball?  Holy shit. 

You know what isn't aesthetically pleasing?  Seeing a strategically and tactically challenged coach do an o-pher over 6 years in the Tournament.   

Gimme a coach who may help us sniff a regional final and, god forbid, a FF.   There is nothing more pleasing to the eye than that. 

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Assuming Beard is the guy...

All of the "Texas will talk to Beard today" messages should probably add "in an official capacity."  To this point, I suspect all work has been done verbally using intermediaries.  Today would be the "official" interview, so as to mitigate any claim of the additional $2mm buyout.  Today, they'll work out details like shirt size, new tie, stapler colors (he cannot use the red one any more), etc.

As for aesthetics, it was aesthetically pleasing to see Shaka hop in that Grand Cherokee at the airfield in Milwaukee.

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51 minutes ago, Harry Waters said:

Aesthetically pleasing?  You've obviousy never played basketball at a high level.  If you had, you would appreciate the beauty of a complete team buy-in.  A team that sells-out for offensive rebounds and defense.  A team that will unselfishly move the ball to find the best offensive opportunity.  This is the brand of baseketball of Sampson, Few, Drew, Wright, Bennett and Beard.  That group includes coaches that will have won the last three NCAA basketball championships.

Man, when I watched UH attack that vaunted Syracuse 2-3 matchup, I found that aesthetically pleasing.

Agree. Team basketball is better entertainment. 

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Just now, boilerhorn said:

Assuming Beard is the guy...

All of the "Texas will talk to Beard today" messages should probably add "in an official capacity."  To this point, I suspect all work has been done verbally using intermediaries.  Today would be the "official" interview, so as to mitigate any claim of the additional $2mm buyout.  Today, they'll work out details like shirt size, new tie, stapler colors (he cannot use the red one any more), etc.

As for aesthetics, it was aesthetically pleasing to see Shaka hop in that Grand Cherokee at the airfield in Milwaukee.

Yeah this is what I'm thinking. That matador guy's list of "concerns" had to be bullshit. The big questions would've been addressed to get to this stage. 

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12 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

"Aesthetically pleasing" basketball?  Holy shit. 

You know what isn't aesthetically pleasing?  Seeing a strategically and tactically challenged coach do an o-pher over 6 years in the Tournament.   

Gimme a coach who may help us sniff a regional final and, god forbid, a FF.   There is nothing more pleasing to the eye than that. 

It’s fucking baffling 

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FCB

Spoiler

THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING

Right after the news broke last Friday that Shaka Smart was leaving Texas to take over the basketball program at Marquette, we reported Texas Tech’s Chris Beard was UT’s top target. We also said if there’s eerie silence between last Friday and April 1, Texas fans who are hoping Beard is the one taking over the Longhorns’ basketball program should rejoice.

Here’s why: While Texas has spoken with former player and current Brooklyn Nets assistant coach Royal Ivey about Ivey’s vision for the program as a possible coaching candidate, UT hasn’t spoken with Beard directly.

Yet.

That is expected to happen on Thursday, when a buyout in Beard’s contract for schools in Texas and/or the Big 12 (i.e. UT) drops from $5 million to $4 million. If anyone trying to hire Beard was talking to him before Thursday, Tech could argue that school would owe the $5 million.

So, if things go well Thursday (and I’m hearing things SHOULD go well, because I’ve heard there’s mutual interest), Texas could have its new men’s basketball coach by the end of the week — if not sooner.

Now, why would Beard, who is 48, want to leave Texas Tech, where he has developed a cult following from Red Raider Nation after leading Tech to the Elite Eight in his second year in Lubbock (2018) and to the national championship game in Year 3 (2019)? Tech students pack United Supermarkets Arena for home games and have a REAL home-court advantage.

Why would Beard want to leave an athletic director like Kirby Hocutt, who gave Beard new contracts after the 2018 and 2019 seasons, making him one of the top-five paid coaches in college basketball?

Beard had a base salary this season of $4.3 million, but he earned $5.1 million for the 2020-21 school year because he had a one-time, $750,000 retention bonus paid to him in September, plus other incentives reached. According to Beard’s latest contract, obtained by Horns247, he is set to earn base salaries of $4.4 million in 2021-22; $4.5 million in 2022-23; $4.6 million in 2023-24; and $4.7 million in 2024-25.

After Tubby Smith’s surprise decision to leave Texas Tech for Memphis April 14, 2016, Hocutt believed in Beard and wanted to hire him so much that he found himself watching a live-stream feed of Beard being interviewed by UNLV regents, some of whom wanted the coach to justify why he’d been hired at UNLV on March 28, 2016.

Hocutt, sensing Beard was less than happy with the line of questioning, called Beard after the meeting and said, “Can I fly to Vegas tomorrow to talk to you?”

“Can you get here tonight?” Beard responded.

Hocutt and Beard have been so tight, there’s a provision in his contract that all of Beard’s buyout money is cut in half if Hocutt is no longer the athletic director at Tech.

In the past week, Lubbock businesses that sell barbecue, wings, pasta, beer and desserts have made "free for life" offers to Beard if he remains Tech's coach.

Why would beard leave Tech for Texas? 

Forget the new contract and likely raise to $5 million or more annually or even that Beard graduated from the University of Texas in 1996 after serving as a student assistant to Tom Penders. (You’ll hear from Penders about Beard in a second.)

Beard is all about winning at the highest level and having no obstruction to recruiting the best talent in the country to his program.

Beard will never admit this publicly, but according to sources close to the situation, it’s been harder for Beard to lure top recruits, such as Cade Cunningham, who ended up at Oklahoma State, because Tech is an Under Armour school as opposed to a Nike school like Texas and Oklahoma State.

“In basketball, how schools align with shoe companies matter,” said a source close to the situation.

There’s also the ability to recruit to Austin.

Texas women’s coach Vic Schaefer may be the best testimonial for that. When 6-foot-1 forward Aliyah Moore, the No. 6 prospect in the 2021 class from Moore, Okla., signed with Texas, she said Schaefer had recruited her hard to go to Mississippi State, but Moore had no interest in going to school in Starkville, Miss.

As soon as Schaefer got the Texas job, he called Moore, and because he was now headed to Austin, Moore was immediately interested in joining Schaefer at UT, which she’ll do this fall.

And then there’s the $388 million Moody Center, which will open for basketball for the 2022-23 season. Live Nation, considered “the global leader in live entertainment,” is part of the Oak View ownership group constructing the Moody Center and is already hailing it as the premier concert venue in the United States.

For basketball, it will have 10,000 seats all right on top of the court, making it a premier ticket with great sight lines and acoustics.

“This arena will set the standard for concerts and for college basketball arenas,” said a source directly involved with the Moody Center.

Despite Texas constructing a $60 million basketball (and rowing) practice facility adjacent to the Moody Center, I’ve heard Beard will want to know how many practice hours per week he’d be able to get on the Moody Center floor, so his players have a second-nature feel for their home court.

Beard will undoubtedly have other questions for Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte when they speak — most likely on Thursday.

If Beard likes the answers to his questions, there could be a sea change coming in the direction of college basketball in the state of Texas.

Before Chris Beard got to Texas Tech in 2016 and took the program to an Elite Eight and the championship game in 2018 and 2019, no one was talking about Tech as a “basketball school.”

They are now.

You know what makes a school a "basketball school?" The right coach. Beard has done for Tech what Lute Olson did for Arizona, which was a joke in basketball prior to Olsen’s hire in 1983.

And based on Beard’s track record of winning everywhere he’s been, he’d undoubtedly have a chance to resurrect the prominence Texas basketball achieved at times under Tom Penders as well as the first decade under Rick Barnes — from 1999-2008.

By the way, 2008 is the last time Texas made it out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament — and 2014 is the last time UT won a game in the NCAA Tournament.

Texas is ready to invest BIG in basketball. We’ll know soon if Beard is a part of that investment.

TOM PENDERS’ PERSPECTIVE ON HIS FORMER STUDENT ASSISTANT CHRIS BEARD

As a student at Texas in the early 1990s, Chris Beard went to then-UT basketball coach Tom Penders about being involved with the Longhorns’ program.

“Chris wasn’t a bad player,” Penders told Horns247. “He wanted to walk on. We didn’t really have room for walk-ons at that time. He said he wanted to be a coach one day, so I kept giving him more duties.

“We put him in the room next to mine — an 8-foot by 12-foot cubby hole — cutting up film.

“Chris was always in that room,” Penders said. “If I had to do it over again, of course, film study has gotten more advanced, but I would’ve spent more time in the film room, because that was a great way to break down opponents.

“By Chris’ senior year, he was like an assistant coach. We were able to give him a scholarship, and he earned it.”

Penders said Beard was no pushover as a student manager and was always hanging around the coaches, whenever possible.

“Being a manager can be tough,” Penders said. “The kids, the players, sometimes tease the managers. But if the kids were rude to him, Chris would just ignore them. He was nobody’s gopher, although he would’ve done anything for the coaches.

“Chris always sat up in the front of the bus with us and listened and was a loyal — very, very loyal guy. He’s family to me. You get close to players, and in Chris’ case, because he was such a sponge, I got close to him as a manager. Like I said, as a senior, he was like an assistant coach.”

Penders isn’t surprised Beard has gone on to be a success as a head coach and still stays in touch. Penders said before the 2019 season, he went to Lubbock and spent about a week observing Beard’s program, sitting in on meetings and practices.

“It’s his preparation, time in the film room, and then his ability to communicate with the players without being overbearing or condescending,” Penders said. “He might get on a guy, but he’ll walk off the floor with his arm around the kid.

“His players really respect him, because he really cares about his players, and that comes through in his day-to-day work.

“People talk about five-star kids. He’ll take four-star kids and make them fives by his coaching. All of his players, without exception, get better every year. You see it, and it’s largely in the confidence area. Their skills improve, but their confidence really improves at an amazing level.”

Penders said he likes that Beard’s teams are always mentally and physically tough.

“It doesn’t do any good to win the recruiting wars if you don’t know what’s in a kid’s heart or how tough he is,” Penders said. “Chris finds those kids with skill who are tough, and then he brings toughness to his teams. In practices, he doesn’t blow the whistle every time there’s a touch foul.”

I asked Penders about Beard’s ability to evaluate talent.

“He’s excellent,” Penders said. “He always makes a pitch to the top kids. But it’s a tougher sell to get them to go to Lubbock then it is to go to Austin.

“He’ll take a Jarrett Culver, a Lubbock kid, and turn him into a five-plus. If he gets a kid who is a legitimate Top 25 type player, the ceiling is very high in terms of where the kid can go. Chris is a teacher and really pays attention to detail, more so than most coaches.

“I sat in his meetings, and his preparation is exceptional. He could coach in the NBA and do well in the NBA, because he relates well to players and can adjust to any type of player.

“At Tech, he knows he has to develop and recruit hard. He’s real. And when you’re real, you’re a good recruiter. He’s got a great sense of humor and knows how to deal with all kinds of different kids.”

Penders brought up the Eyes of Texas controversy that hit the UT campus last summer and speculated about how Beard might handle that situation.

“It’s a tough time now for the coaches with a lot of different issues,” Penders said.

“But if the kids respect and believe in you as their coach, you’ll get through it.

“You have to be honest with your players and try to keep them from getting into situations where they might have to compromise their own beliefs. You have to realize these are kids — 18 and 19 years old. You have to treat ‘em like they’re your own kids — like family. And if they trust in you and believe in you, you’ll be fine.”

I asked Penders if Beard would be a good fit for Texas.

“Chris would be a great fit anywhere - for all the reasons we’ve discussed,” Penders said. “What he’s built at Tech in five years is amazing with the student following.

“It was empty when he took it over, and now they line up the day before games to be the first ones in. You need the kids and need the students. It’s been sad for me to see the fan base at Texas basketball games disappearing. That wouldn’t happen if Chris Beard was there.”

 

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