Chris Beard has Texas Tech in Final Four by waking up 'every day feeling like the underdog'

Chris Beard, Texas Tech’s head basketball coach, has waxed poetic about his favorite breakfast cereal, Lucky Charms.

“Big-time cereal,’’ he said a day before his third-seeded Red Raiders beat top-seeded Gonzaga in the Elite Eight.

He has objected to a $4.99 buffet offer — because it does not include a drink — at a pizza joint in Tulsa, where Tech Tech beat Northern Kentucky and Buffalo in the first and second rounds.

“Can’t do it,’’ he said of the $4.99 deal.

He has reminisced about squeezing eight players into a hotel room with two beds when he was coaching a junior college team.

“Two to a bed, two to a bed, two on a couch, freshmen on the floor,’’ Beard explained. “Free beer at Happy Hour, always good for the (sports information directors) and assistant coaches. Not me during the season. After the season, yes.’’

Without a true blue blood at the Final Four this year in Minneapolis, Beard and his team are giving the field a decidedly blue-collar feel. On Saturday, third-seeded Texas Tech will face second-seeded Michigan State after top-seeded Virginia meets fifth-seeded Auburn.

“I wake up every day feeling like the underdog, that I got something to prove,’’ said Beard, 46, and he has proved the road less traveled can lead a coach like himself — which is to say colorful, excitable and triumphant — to the Final Four.

Before Beard took over at Texas Tech in 2016, his circuitous road include one year coaching the South Carolina Warriors, a semipro team in the American Basketball Association (ABA); coaching stops at two junior colleges; and head coaching stints at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas, Angelo State in San Angelo, Texas and Arkansas-Little Rock.

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Between leaving Arkansas-Little Rock and going back to Texas Tech shortly after 2016 season, there was a two-week span where he was the coach of UNLV. When the Red Raiders job opened, the school moved quickly to hired Beard, who spent a decade working as assistant coach at Texas Tech under Bob Knight from 2001 and 2008 then three seasons with Knight's son Pat.

“It was like getting a Ph.D. in coaching every day,’’ Beard said working with the Hall of Fame coach with three national titles.

If Beard put that Ph.D. to use in the classroom, he’d be teaching these subjects:

— How to get the most out of your team

Tech Tech’s roster includes no McDonald’s All-Americans and only one player who was considered a Top-100 recruit. Beard cultivates the underdog mentality, evidenced by Texas Tech point guard Matt Mooney showing up for a press conference wearing a T-shirt that reads, “Never Lose the Chip.’’

“We weren't the highest recruited guys, but that not doesn't mean we can't compete with the best of the country,’’ Mooney said. “We just try to work at it every day. Don't Lose Your Chip represents that.’’

Beard channels that energy into smothering defense that offsets any talent gaps with the likes of Michigan (see Texas Tech’s victory in Sweet 16) or Gonzaga (see Texas Tech’s victory in the Elite Eight.)

Even before March, Beard takes the madness one step further than other coaches. For example, above the urinals in Texas Tech’s locker rooms are sheets that include “keys’’ each player is supposed to focus on when they shoot free throws.

“He's a different breed,’’ Mooney said of Beard. 

After Beard’s first team at Texas Tech missed the NCAA tournament, his second group of overachievers reached the Elite Eight before losing to eventual national champion Villanova. Now the Red Raiders have taken yet another big step.

— How to play defense and delegate

With his staff, Beard devised the system that has equipped Texas Tech without arguably the most disruptive defense in college basketball.  During the NCAA tournament, in its defeats of Northern Kentucky, Buffalo, Michigan and Gonzaga, Texas Tech has allowed average of 57 points and the Red Raiders also held their opponents to an average of 23 points below school’s scoring average.

But Beard has turned over day-to-day control to assistant coach Mark Adams, who has ruled with an defensive despot. For example, Mooney, Texas Tech’s point guard, said Adams had Mooney yanked from the season opener less than three minutes after tipoff.

“Coach Adams was on me,’’ Mooney recalled. “He said, ‘You got any steals? You got any deflections? You know, what have you done?’ In my head, it's only been two minutes. That's what they expect out of us.’’

When Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver was asked what happens in practice if a player lets someone drive down middle or fails to close out on a shooter — cardinal sins for Texas Tech players — Culver laughed. And when someone followed up by asking Beard what dealing with Coach Adams means, Beard replied, “I think it's the same thing as what happens at Michigan State and it's called coaching.’’

Beard was referring to Michigan State Tom Izzo, who sparked controversy during the first round of the tournament when Izzo tore into freshman Aaron Henry during a timeout. (Remember, Beard coach under Bob Knight for a decade.)

“Coach Adams is the best defensive coach I've ever seen,’’ Beard said. “And that is no disrespect to Coach Knight … or all the coaches I've been around. 

“Mark Adams has a way about defense, and it's been a big part of our team, our identity, is the work that Coach Adams has done on our staff.’’

— Building a winning culture

When Beard arrived, the Red Raiders had not won a game in the tournament since 2005 and never advanced past the Sweet 16. The team finished with a record of 18-14 and 6-12 in the Big 12 during Beard’s inaugural season in the Big 12.

But the culture was changing, and soon enough did the Red Raiders’ fortunes.

The winning culture seems to have deepened yet again as the Red Raiders have made history by advancing to the Final Four.  And it’s more than free throw keys listed on sheets above the urinals and T-shirts with slogans like “Don’t Lose Your Chip.’’

“He's established the culture here of winning, holding everybody accountable,’’ Mooney said. “He just, when he was recruiting me, I knew this guy is going to win, he's going to get it done. He surrounds himself with great people.

“The staff is amazing. He recruits great guys that are good team guys. Other than, he's a tough dude, demands toughness in defense, and he's a brilliant coach as well.”

Many of Beard’s players have developed fast, none moreso than Culver, the team’s star sophomore forward. Rated by one high school recruiting service as the 185th best recruit in the nation, he is widely projected as a lottery pick for the NBA draft in June. 

“The first thing in recruiting is making sure they can play in the Big 12, and it's a talent business,’’ Beard said after his team beat Michigan in the Sweet 16. “We do really good with guys that love to play."

Seems it’s no accident.

“Everybody enjoys the work,’’ Texas Tech forward Tariq Owens said “Nobody gets tired of it. This is the main thing that brought me here. I enjoy the work. These guys (his teammates) … enjoy the work. That's what we've been doing all year.’’

At Beard’s behest.