I don't know Beard at all except from watching him conduct himself and how his players respond to him, but here are some thoughts.
He has spent a significant part of his life in West Texas. I assume he could have pursued his head coaching career in many other parts of the country. It seems he is comfortable in the West Texas lifestyle, unlike other coaches who are looking for a different environment.
Two of his three daughters live in proximity to Lubbock. He seems very attentive and probably would not want to be separated by large amounts of geography. Here's hoping his heart strings are stronger than the $ signs in far off places.
I think he looks around at other situations and realizes that to build a program with a tradition of excellence and high expectations you have to make the long term investment. Jumping to greener pastures is a crap shoot. In basketball you can build and maintain a dominant program in out of the way places. Filling a 15,000 seat arena for a University with 25-30K enrollment can be done in Lubbock as well as in Los Angeles. No professional teams competing for the sports entertainment dollars and a fan base of local residents that will reward excellence supporting it with their attendance and financial support.
Beard appears to understand that the team #1 is the staff. He has assembled a great staff who obviously know how to coach. This year's team was not built out of 4 and 5 star players. So the importance of the coaching staff cannot be underestimated. The sign of a great head coach is the number of assistants who leave to take head coaching positions. The Knight coaching tree branches from Lubbock through Beard. And from what I have seen it is a stronger more sustainable branch than many others. There will many men who want to come and be leaves on the Beard coaching branch.
I have watched UT for many years recruit great 5 star players. That is the demand and expectation of the alums. They take pride in the pedigree of the players that go to UT. But the "one and dones" and 5 stars are just temps, never learn to play defense or bond into a cohesive team, and make it hard to find the kind of success that Beard values. Reference Rick Barnes. It seems that Beard values the continuity of the program over many years over the here and now. Now that he has demonstrated what success looks like he and the players he recruits have a firm understanding of what it takes and how it will evolve.
Lastly, I have watched Tech basketball for more than 50 years. Seen a lot of good basketball teams and some not-so-good teams. What Beard is building is special. Let's all hope that he feels the same and support the whole team, players and coaches and make sure they know that we are paying attention.
He has spent a significant part of his life in West Texas. I assume he could have pursued his head coaching career in many other parts of the country. It seems he is comfortable in the West Texas lifestyle, unlike other coaches who are looking for a different environment.
Two of his three daughters live in proximity to Lubbock. He seems very attentive and probably would not want to be separated by large amounts of geography. Here's hoping his heart strings are stronger than the $ signs in far off places.
I think he looks around at other situations and realizes that to build a program with a tradition of excellence and high expectations you have to make the long term investment. Jumping to greener pastures is a crap shoot. In basketball you can build and maintain a dominant program in out of the way places. Filling a 15,000 seat arena for a University with 25-30K enrollment can be done in Lubbock as well as in Los Angeles. No professional teams competing for the sports entertainment dollars and a fan base of local residents that will reward excellence supporting it with their attendance and financial support.
Beard appears to understand that the team #1 is the staff. He has assembled a great staff who obviously know how to coach. This year's team was not built out of 4 and 5 star players. So the importance of the coaching staff cannot be underestimated. The sign of a great head coach is the number of assistants who leave to take head coaching positions. The Knight coaching tree branches from Lubbock through Beard. And from what I have seen it is a stronger more sustainable branch than many others. There will many men who want to come and be leaves on the Beard coaching branch.
I have watched UT for many years recruit great 5 star players. That is the demand and expectation of the alums. They take pride in the pedigree of the players that go to UT. But the "one and dones" and 5 stars are just temps, never learn to play defense or bond into a cohesive team, and make it hard to find the kind of success that Beard values. Reference Rick Barnes. It seems that Beard values the continuity of the program over many years over the here and now. Now that he has demonstrated what success looks like he and the players he recruits have a firm understanding of what it takes and how it will evolve.
Lastly, I have watched Tech basketball for more than 50 years. Seen a lot of good basketball teams and some not-so-good teams. What Beard is building is special. Let's all hope that he feels the same and support the whole team, players and coaches and make sure they know that we are paying attention.
