AUSTIN, TX – In an interview with Jim Rome of CBS Sports this week, new Texas basketball head coach Chris Beard was able to really open up on his journey through the college hoops coaching ranks to date. Beard was the head coach with the Texas Tech Red Raiders prior to leaving for Texas when he was hired back on April 1.
A number of Longhorns and Red Raiders hoops fans alike were interested to hear more on why Beard left Lubbock for Austin in the first place. While it does make sense that Beard would want an upgraded payday and return to a previous coaching job of his with the Longhorns, he had done a lot to build up that Texas Tech program in the last five years.
And that’s exactly what Beard was able to discuss with Rome in this interview on April 14. He essentially stated that leaving Texas Tech “was one of the most difficult decisions” of his life. But he also mentioned in this interview that after leaving Lubbock, his “feet are now firmly planted in Austin”.
Path forward for Texas basketball HC Chris Beard
The hiring of Beard to become the next Texas head coach by athletic director Chris del Conte more than two weeks ago instilled a lot of excitement into this program. CDC in general was busy with various critical head coaching hires in the last few months. He had Beard to replace Shaka Smart as the Texas basketball head coach and brought in Steve Sarkisian to replace Tom Herman as the football head coach.
Beard has already seen a lot of tangible changes take place with the Longhorns since he was hired back on April 1. He’s had quite a few losses from the original 2021 Texas recruiting/signing class, and among former players leaving for the NCAA Transfer Portal.
But in the last four days alone, Texas had multiple key pickups out of the transfer portal. The additions this week out of the transfer portal included former Kentucky Wildcats guard Devin Askew, Utah Utes small forward Timmy Allen, and Creighton Blue Jays forward Christian Bishop.
Texas finished up last season with a record of 19-8 (11-6 Big 12) under the direction of the now-former sixth-year head coach Smart. Back on March 26, Smart bolted from Austin to take the head coaching job with the Marquette Golden Eagles, leading to his subsequent replacement in Beard five days later.
