For anyone who wants to know what kind of coach we've got in Chris Beard

[shadow_operative 15932]

2021 under Shaka:

 

 

and 2022 under Beard:

 

 

 

Shaka Smart had three NBA players in his front court alone, and a senior, now-G League stud at PG. Chris Beard had zero NBA players. Shaka Smart had a deep, experienced, physically gifted roster. The players who weren't run off by Shaka were grossly misused and otherwise stunted by their head coach. Chris Beard had a total of five players actually good enough to play in the Big XII, none of whom will play in the NBA, and three of whom transferred into the program last summer. Chris Beard navigated them through the toughest league in America, beat the national champion, finished #15 in kenpom, and won a Tourney game for the first time since Rick Barnes was here.

Chirs Beard produced a better offense, a better defense, and a much more consistent and all around better team in his hectic, fast-tracked, first year at Texas than Shaka did in his sixth year with his absolute dream roster. I know a lot of people both here and in real life who aren't yet understanding what Beard is doing, and who sadly can't see the job that he did this year for what it is: an unmitigated success.

Chris Beard just took a team with no size, no athletes, and no shooters, not to mention a total lack of chemistry, all in their first year in his system, and he had a better season out of the gate than Shaka ever did in six years at Texas. You don't think we play into the second weekend and possibly beyond if we have Kai Jones, Jaxson Hayes, Mo Bamba, Matt Coleman, etc? Please. Chris Beard just showed the world that his floor is higher than Shaka's ceiling. Wait until he gets a chance to recruit his own guys to the 40 Acres year after year after year, in the Moody Center, where we will hopefully/realistically one day hang a national championship banner. Yeah. Get excited people. I know that this wasn't exactly the Showtime Lakers we watched last year, but make no mistake about it- Chris Beard is an elite tier coach, and for the first time since ~January 2010, this program legitimately has a chance to have success like it's never seen before. Can't wait. 🤘🏼 

Edited April 12, 2022 by shadow_operative

[ztejas 43419]

It's getting to be more and more embarrassing for Shaka as guys that played under him continue to kill it professionally (based on projections at least). Bamba, Hayes and Sims will all have close to decade-long NBA careers at least barring huge injury issues. Like I would bet anyone a large sum of money that Sims makes it 7 seasons in the league and he was our 3rd best prospect last season. Kai Jones and GB will probably find a way to stick around as well. 

Just so disgusting. He was so fucking bad. 

[NoRagrets 1125]

Isn’t it football kool aid season? Oh well, I’ll take a drink of what you’re pouring anyway. 

[Wulaw Horn 19069]

14 hours ago, ztejas said:

It's getting to be more and more embarrassing for Shaka as guys that played under him continue to kill it professionally (based on projections at least). Bamba, Hayes and Sims will all have close to decade-long NBA careers at least barring huge injury issues. Like I would bet anyone a large sum of money that Sims makes it 7 seasons in the league and he was our 3rd best prospect last season. Kai Jones and GB will probably find a way to stick around as well. 

Just so disgusting. He was so fucking bad. 

I can't believe how fired up I was when we hired him. In my defense I saw through his bullshit by the time February of year 2 rolled around and stated as much while getting mocked and ridiculed.  I was also excited for the Herman hire.  I was totally and completely pissed by the Strong hire and seriously underhwhelmed by the Sark hire- so it's not like I'm waiving pom poms everytime we hire someone. I liked the Augie hire (who didn't?) and didn't like the Pierce hire.  What I'm saying is- I'm like at best 500 on being able to tell if we got a good coach hired.  That's probably a slightly better record than the guys picking them have, I guess.  

[SL Xpress 7513]

18 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

I can't believe how fired up I was when we hired him. In my defense I saw through his bullshit by the time February of year 2 rolled around and stated as much while getting mocked and ridiculed.  I was also excited for the Herman hire.  I was totally and completely pissed by the Strong hire and seriously underhwhelmed by the Sark hire- so it's not like I'm waiving pom poms everytime we hire someone. I liked the Augie hire (who didn't?) and didn't like the Pierce hire.  What I'm saying is- I'm like at best 500 on being able to tell if we got a good coach hired.  That's probably a slightly better record than the guys picking them have, I guess.  

It’s such a roulette wheel. Only Ohio State football and KU basketball never get a hire wrong. 

I think the big thing for me is how often Texas doesn’t swing for the fences. I mean, Angie Garrido is swinging for the fences. For me Chris Beard is a swing for the fences. Mack Brown when he was hired, a swing for the fences. So what exactly is going on with these other hires?

Basketball has been a bit different because the profile hasn’t been as big. And even if they didn’t leave on their own terms, I have no issues whatsoever with Lemons, Penders, and Barnes careers at Texas. It ended when it was supposed to. Thanks for the memories. Bob Weltlich was a mistake in going after a Bob Knight protege. And I still don’t think Shaka Smart was a bad hire per se. I was excited to see what the havoc system could look like at Texas (I’m still wondering). He just shouldn’t have been allowed to do his thing for 6 fucking years. 

I am always going to be hopeful for the best after a hire is made. But I also know from following this stuff for a long time that if it’s the right coach, they’re going to have a noticeable impact in year one. It doesn’t mean things are on cruise control if there is an uptick, but if things go downhill…that’s not a good sign. 

In any case, I’m thrilled with how the basketball season went. I don’t get anyone who feels disappointed, other than buying into the preseason hype. I thought this team would be better than it ended up being based on the portal talent rankings, but once I saw what we actually had to work with I’ve been very satisfied with the results. I’m very excited to see what we get in year two. 

[jimmyjazz 45911]

11 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

But I also know from following this stuff for a long time that if it’s the right coach, they’re going to have a noticeable impact in year one. It doesn’t mean things are on cruise control if there is an uptick, but if things go downhill…that’s not a good sign. 

Agreed.  Penders' first year showed glimpses -- 25 wins, 2nd place in SWC, upset of GTech in the NCAA.  He never really put it all together quite like Barnes did, but the change was noticeable from the jump.

[DaysOff 7947]

Mack Brown, like Royal, was number 28 on the list. We were lucky on both of those because the ADs at the time were trying to fuck those up as well.

[SL Xpress 7513]

2 hours ago, DaysOff said:

Mack Brown, like Royal, was number 28 on the list. We were lucky on both of those because the ADs at the time were trying to fuck those up as well.

Deloss Dodds made sure he was never responsible for a hiring or firing of a football coach. His job performance was all based on revenue generation. It was his big secret to longevity. He was trying to please the boosters that wanted Barnett, so that’s who he was trying to hire. The hiring of Mack Brown was done at the board of regents level. Same as Sarkisian, really. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3444]

2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Agreed.  Penders' first year showed glimpses -- 25 wins, 2nd place in SWC, upset of GTech in the NCAA.  He never really put it all together quite like Barnes did, but the change was noticeable from the jump.

Penders had horrible timing in sabotaging himself with the release of Axtel's grades. Part of what led to Barnes' success was the fact that the state's high school talent was in transition towards being among the best in the nation.  Penders saw the beginning stages of this process with us joining the Big 12 and the signings of Clack, Mihm, & Axtel, but he didn't stay long enough to see it all come into fruition. 

Edited April 12, 2022 by Catdaddyhorn

[jimmyjazz 45911]

Yeah, the late night drunk dials and the way he dealt with Axtel were unforgivable.

[SL Xpress 7513]

I hated the loosey goosey offense and defense. When he recruited Mihm I wondered what in the heck was he going to do with a low post player. 

Frankly, people hate it, but Beard's offense is the most organized offense I can remember Texas running. The players didn't know what they were doing through most of the season, but at the end it was producing a lot of open looks. 

Also, it was surprising to me that Beard's tempo and Smart's tempo were practically identical. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3444]

1 hour ago, SL Xpress said:

I hated the loosey goosey offense and defense. When he recruited Mihm I wondered what in the heck was he going to do with a low post player. 

Frankly, people hate it, but Beard's offense is the most organized offense I can remember Texas running. The players didn't know what they were doing through most of the season, but at the end it was producing a lot of open looks. 

Also, it was surprising to me that Beard's tempo and Smart's tempo were practically identical. 

I felt the same way at the time. The funny thing is in today's game you see some of the same elements Penders implemented (3-man weave at the top of the key, open post, high pick'n roll) used frequently, although I don't remember Penders having much else in his bag back then. 

[Wulaw Horn 19069]

21 hours ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

I felt the same way at the time. The funny thing is in today's game you see some of the same elements Penders implemented (3-man weave at the top of the key, open post, high pick'n roll) used frequently, although I don't remember Penders having much else in his bag back then. 

There wasn’t any room for anything else in the bag, what with all the scotch in there. 

[Dbeasy 15048]

On 4/11/2022 at 10:38 PM, ztejas said:

It's getting to be more and more embarrassing for Shaka as guys that played under him continue to kill it professionally (based on projections at least). Bamba, Hayes and Sims will all have close to decade-long NBA careers at least barring huge injury issues. Like I would bet anyone a large sum of money that Sims makes it 7 seasons in the league and he was our 3rd best prospect last season. Kai Jones and GB will probably find a way to stick around as well. 

Just so disgusting. He was so fucking bad. 

Well obviously Shaka was such an incredible coach that he developed them into top NBA players. - an argument for all naysayers. 

[Bigpoppapump 529]

Well obviously Shaka was such an incredible coach that he developed them into top NBA players. - an argument for all naysayers. 

Rick Barnes “Vince McMahon” walks into the the chat.

[shadow_operative 15932]

33 minutes ago, Bigpoppapump said:

Rick Barnes “Vince McMahon” walks into the the chat.

Rick Barnes is one of the better talent developers in college basketball, so you might not want to play that card. just look at what he's done at Tennessee. he got there and signed a bunch of dudes who were only getting recruited by schools like Hampton and Wisconsin-Green Bay and turned them into a team that, in his third year there, held a no.1 ranking for five weeks, won the league, went to the S16, etc. he took Schofield and Williams from guys ranked in the mid-low 200's in their seniors class and turned them into All Americans, SEC POTY (twice for Williams), and now both are in the NBA.

people like to crush Barnes for not winning more with 5* talent, but the guy has always been able to spot and then develop the more lowly rated players and then turn them into good-great (if not All American) caliber players, everywhere he's been. he really coaches them up. 

Edited April 14, 2022 by shadow_operative

[shadow_operative 15932]

in fact, i think that you could argue that his most underrated example of player development happened to be a guy who *was* a five star, Damion James. of course people don't remember this that we'll because how how DJ's career ended (with Barnes's anger causing his best team to crash and burn), but man did Damo grow during his four years here. people forget that he was the front runner for NPOY in late December 2009, just before the collapse. Damion is one of the last guy's we'll ever have at Texas who develops year on year the way he did. 

[SL Xpress 7513]

4 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

in fact, i think that you could argue that his most underrated example of player development happened to be a guy who *was* a five star, Damion James. of course people don't remember this that we'll because how how DJ's career ended (with Barnes's anger causing his best team to crash and burn), but man did Damo grow during his four years here. people forget that he was the front runner for NPOY in late December 2009, just before the collapse. Damion is one of the last guy's we'll ever have at Texas who develops year on year the way he did. 

My favorite coaching effort of Barnes’ career was his first season when we won the Big 12 with like 7 guys on the roster, centered around a hyped but limited center prospect in Chris Mihm. Also, Dexter Pittman’s development was pretty remarkable, although Todd Wright deserves a lot of credit there. And of course Pittman himself. 

Royal Ivey was another one. There were a ton of players who developed under Barnes.

I see Beard doing some of the same things. I bet all the players on the team would say they’re better defensive players after this year than they were coming into the season. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

the difference in the collective and individual basketball IQ between the '21 team and the '22 team was stark. Beard's players were just all around more competent, calm, measured in their decision making, fewer turnovers, fewer shitty shots, fewer extended scoring droughts, and so on. i feel like Ramey could have been a totally different player with 4+ years under Beard instead of Shaka. 

Edited April 14, 2022 by shadow_operative

[shadow_operative 15932]

[Guest]

That NIT run paid dividends for Buzz Williams, eh?

[Braff Zacklin 13561]

Got dam, that's stout company. Pretty much a Who's Who of active coaches.

Mildly surprised Sampson is only 56.4%.

[LTtxfan 49184]

 

[MuellerHorn 4230]

I fucking love Chris Beard.

[Snake Diggity 4622]

I loved Rick Barnes.  He just seems like such a cool person.  But man Beard is looking like a badass so far.

[Jebus 1306]

On 5/6/2022 at 7:38 PM, slorch said:

That NIT run paid dividends for Buzz Williams, eh?

Kinda crazy to me that being not far above .500 gets you into top 20 territory.  I mean Shaka isn't that far below .500 for his career, one more miracle run and he's right there.  I guess it's good for him that the max number of games you can lose in a tournament is 1.

[Slacks 6819]

So... does this mean we're going to win more games in 2023 tourney?

[LTtxfan 49184]

On 6/15/2022 at 10:21 PM, MuellerHorn said:

I fucking love Chris Beard.

 

[jimmyjazz 45911]

Bump . . . did anyone else think Beard looked like he had just woken up from a long night drinking when he showed up on the GameDay set?

Not that there's anything wrong with that.  It was pretty funny -- t-shirt, shorts, not quite all there.

[Red Five 40856]

Beard's floor is higher than Shaka's ceiling is a funny and accurate way of putting it. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

Coach, i k ow you want to sign the kid, but get your hand out of his lap!

[SL Xpress 7513]

We've never had a better ambassador for the entire athletic department than Chris Beard. And this is after one decent but not spectacular season. I feel like Mack Brown did a good job of championing other sports at UT, and he was certainly PR spokesman material. He also had a huge platform to draw from. There's a completely different level of intensity and ownership from Beard, though, than anyone else we've ever had. I'm sure some of that has to do with the fact he's a grad. It makes a difference. You can hear it in the passion with which he speaks. 

I don't know if you guys saw the clip of him at this year's Gone to Texas event, but when he was at the podium and screamed into the mic he's proud to say he's a graduate of the University of Texas to all the incoming students, it gave me goosebumps. 

The other part, though, is Beard's personality. He has more than a little hucksterism in him, which I mean in a good way. The basketball program needs that. But for him that carries over into everything. And that's the other thing. The guy looks like he has a crystal meth drip constantly running through his veins. His intensity is off the charts. Even when he's trying to look relaxed he looks like he can't sit still. And when he walks he always has that aggressive stalking, rolling of the shoulders with every step he takes. Basically, he doesn't seem to know where his off switch is. 

If he can win at the kind of level I feel he's going to, he's going to pay such huge dividends for the athletic department, because he's constantly going to trumpet excellence everywhere in the program. 

I just love this guy. Can't believe he's our basketball coach. I know it will make me forgive a lot of ills other people see, but to me that's part of the deal. Call me anti-bitter white guy. Heck, we've reversed places, because I was superbitterwhiteguy while Shaka Smart was here. 

[jimmyjazz 45911]

13 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

If he can win at the kind of level I feel he's going to, he's going to pay such huge dividends for the athletic department,

I know you weren't really alluding to money, but do you have any idea of the brand/marketing/income value of a NCAA tourney championship?  I wonder how it looks compared to the big football TV contracts that are being thrown around.  

[shadow_operative 15932]

 

[realgreggym 835]

I am excited about Coach Beard as much as anyone but to say he is the best ambassador that the athletic dept ever had is a bit much. If he is still here 40 years from now, maybe but not today.

[jimmyjazz 45911]

34 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

I’m now even more convinced Chris Beard is the best ambassador that the athletic dept ever had.

I'm pretty sure he's the best abassador who ever lived.

[TxTower 651]

I’m now even more convinced Chris Beard is the best ambassador that the athletic dept ever had.

I like him too, but I’ll see your CB and raise you a DKR.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SL Xpress 7513]

2 hours ago, TxTower said:

I like him too, but I’ll see your CB and raise you a DKR.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's true. But he left the promotion of other sports to their head coaches. And their fundraising, too. He did hire them in the first place, though, and that's not something Beard is going to ever equal.

That's what I was thinking of in terms of ambassador. Chris Beard is going to promote the crap out of UT and other sports within the athletic department in a way we've never seen before.

But there's only one DKR. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

i still have to pinch myself whenever i see stuff like this:

it may not seem like much, but i'm still just thrilled to be (back) at a place where, as a program, we don't run from expectations, or try to shelter our "kids" from them. we aim high, and we have no problems talking about our high expectations, because we know that we're doing the work to back it up, day in and day out. it's an actual culture shift, and not just lip service. damn i cannot wait to see this team play. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

last night we legitimately had an "important conference game" atmosphere for the opening game of the season. that has never happened before in the history of UT Basketball. i watched kevin durant play in front of 4,000 people back at the FEC, and i watched actual conference games with 5,000 in attendance under shaka. for me, watching that game last night, hearing the noise, reading the tweets about how you couldn't hear anything because it was so loud in there; wow. just wow. for someone whose no.1 sports love is UT Basketball, i'm still blown away by what i saw last night. amazing start to the Moody Center era.

[SL Xpress 7513]

Here's a gem of a video I found from 2017 full of all kinds of foreshadowing. It's Chris Beard giving a promotion for a speech he's about to give as the head coach of Texas Tech for the Abilene Christian University TipOff dinner. It's about a minute long.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155105186582081

I especially like the part where he talks about how special it is for a coach to be at their alma mater, "Only 35 coaches in Div I basketball are the head coach at their alma mater. I hope ACU fans realize how special that is," or something like that. It's in the fucking video. Someone watch it and correct me, please. I'm busy. 

Apparently Beard was a graduate assistant at Abilene Christian back in 1996-7 when Joe Golding was the starting point guard for the ACU Wildcats.

"Golding, who enters his seventh season at the helm in 2017-18. 'I'm thankful to Chris Beard – who is a great friend of mine – for coming back to Abilene for a night to talk basketball with the people of Abilene.'"

[HookEm 2467]

(Hot Take Alert)  I thought Golding screwed up leaving ACU for UTEP. Why not try to build your Alma mater into a central Texas Gonzaga and wait for a blue blood to come calling? ACU is a better school with like 3x the endowment of UTEP. Also closer proximity to recruits. 

[SDG 3319]

Definitely building a student attendance is important culture.  

 

[shadow_operative 15932]

we have entered a new era of Texas basketball. Beard is our best hire since Augie. 🤘🏼 

[dieucla98 2942]

3 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

we have entered a new era of Texas basketball. Beard is our best hire since Augie. 🤘🏼 

[Tired Horn 738]

1 hour ago, dieucla98 said:

Hell, yeah!

[Rimbo 25921]

BEARD

[NorthLoop 14195]

On 11/10/2022 at 8:24 AM, HookEm said:

(Hot Take Alert)  I thought Golding screwed up leaving ACU for UTEP. Why not try to build your Alma mater into a central Texas Gonzaga and wait for a blue blood to come calling? ACU is a better school with like 3x the endowment of UTEP. Also closer proximity to recruits. 

Probably hard to recruit athletes to a school where women aren't allowed to wear tank tops and you get expelled for visiting any establishment that serves alcohol. 

[WBT 20564]

On 11/10/2022 at 8:24 AM, HookEm said:

(Hot Take Alert)  I thought Golding screwed up leaving ACU for UTEP. Why not try to build your Alma mater into a central Texas Gonzaga and wait for a blue blood to come calling? ACU is a better school with like 3x the endowment of UTEP. Also closer proximity to recruits. 

say what now?

[CurlyDumps 4471]

On 11/10/2022 at 6:24 AM, HookEm said:

(Hot Take Alert)  I thought Golding screwed up leaving ACU for UTEP. Why not try to build your Alma mater into a central Texas Gonzaga and wait for a blue blood to come calling? ACU is a better school with like 3x the endowment of UTEP. Also closer proximity to recruits. 

That is certainly a scorching hot take, considering UTEP tripled his salary IIRC.