What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas – except for Chris Beard, who was hired to coach Texas Tech’s men’s basketball team three weeks after taking the same job at UNLV.
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“This unprecedented move is extremely disappointing to (UNLV) President (Len Jessup) and I, for our program and to our fans”, Kunzer-Murphy wrote.
ESPN is reporting Beard has agreed to a five-year deal.
Beard alluded to Hall of Fame football coach Bear Bryant as part of his explanation for leaving UNLV for Texas Tech.
Beard spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach at Texas Tech, and his three daughters live in Texas. That five-year contract was approved by UNLV’s Board of Regents on April 8, and Beard was introduced during a news conference later that day.
Beard, 43, came to UNLV from Arkansas-Little Rock, which he led to the NCAA tournament and a first-round upset of Purdue this year in his first season as a Division I head coach.
Miller parted ways with UNLV after Beard was hired, but would be open to coming back for the head job.
The Rebels went back to their other finalist and named New Mexico State’s Marvin Menzies their head coach. Texas Tech is trying to compete at the highest level in a top conference. He has a 171-50 record in his seven seasons as a head coach.
“We are proud and excited to hire a coach of Chris’ caliber”, Hocutt said. But the school made a decision to instead hire Little Rock’s Chris Beard. So Beard accepted Texas Tech’s offer early Friday. The Trojans claimed the Sun Belt regular season and tournament titles en route to the program’s fifth NCAA Tournament bid.
Menzies is slated to become the first permanent African-American head coach in UNLV men’s basketball history, the Review-Journal notes.
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“Initially the coach that we got he left us for Texas and honestly what he did isn’t cool”, said Remy Manigold, a graduate student at UNLV.
