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Chris Beard ranked as a top-10 hire in the past 25 years

“Few if any coaches have done more with less in a shorter period of time.”

By Jeramey Gillilan

The past month (+) without sports might have seemed damning to most of us, but there has been a lot of time devoted towards creative projects that sustain our interest. One such project was headed by John Gasaway of ESPN, looking at the best coaching hires in college basketball within the last 25 years. Chris Beard comes in at No. 9 on the list, and this is what Gasaway had to say about the leader of the Texas Tech Red Raiders:

“Before hiring Beard, Texas Tech had never appeared in an Elite Eight. With Beard, the Red Raiders played in regional finals in both 2018 and 2019, famously coming within mere seconds of a national title in the latter year. Few if any coaches have done more with less in a shorter period of time.”

The top 10 on the list looks like this:

  1. Roy Williams, North Carolina Tar Heels
  2. Jay Wright, Villanova Wildcats
  3. Tom Izzo, Michigan State Spartans
  4. Bill Self, Kansas Jayhawks
  5. John Calipari, Kentucky Wildcats
  6. Tony Bennett, Virginia Cavaliers
  7. Mark Few, Gonzaga Bulldogs
  8. Leonard Hamilton, Florida State Seminoles
  9. Chris Beard, Texas Tech Red Raiders
  10. Bob Huggins, West Virginia Mountaineers

The other Big 12 coaches to make the list are Bill Self (No. 4), Bob Huggins (No. 10), Scott Drew, (No. 12), and Fred Hoiberg (No. 17). Beard is the youngest (in tenure years) of the top ten, but the only coaches hired after Beard on this list are Anthony Grant (2017 Dayton, No. 21) and Penny Hardaway (2018 Memphis, No. 24). I love that Dayton is up there. Coach Grant put in the time and had Dayton on the pace for a no. 1 seed in the 2020 NCAA Tournament. Memphis????? They had the no. 1 recruiting class, okay, but they were in the NIT last season after finishing fifth in the AAC and they were sixth in conference this season before it finished. Gasaway is putting a lot of stock in Memphis winning a championship next year or something. Regardless, check out the entire list here, and let us know what you think in the comments!

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