If it’s any consolation, Rebel fans, Beard’s heart was in heart of Texas
Agreat story: It was a few days after Chris Beard agreed to take over UNLV basketball — meaning a little more than two weeks before Texas Tech officials swooped in on their private jet to deliver a beloved son back to all that tumbleweed drifting across those West Texas plains — when a leading supporter of the Rebels program happened past the head coach’s office.
GRANEY
“The shades were drawn and it was a like a bunker in there,” said the supporter. “It smelled like those guys hadn’t left since arriving. It was the sort of smell you get at the gym.
“Beard had an army of people in there. They had all these large white pieces of paper hanging all over the walls with names of kids they were going to recruit. The assistant coaches never even looked up. They never even lifted their heads.
“Beard was a madman. He was all in.”
He’s also now the coach of a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The made-for-television saga that was Chris Beard Leaving Las Vegas didn’t do much for the immediate state of the Rebels, but it certainly has allowed Texas Tech to move swiftly forward among the better programs nationally.
March Madness is again upon us and the Red Raiders are smack in the thick of it, seeded third in the East Region and preparing for a first-round game against Stephen F. Austin on Thursday in Dallas.
The history of those 19 days one April have often been recalled for the confusion and national spectacle they became, highlighted by the now-defunct and harebrained rule that at the time gave the Board of Regents power over approving UNLV hires such as men’s basketball coach.
We will never know had UNLV been able to immediately introduce Beard as its coach — and allowed him to speak publicly about the job, officially contact recruits, become more and more entrenched in the position — if he would have turned down Texas Tech and not returned to a program he spent 10 years as an assistant under Bob and then Pat Knight.
Here’s guessing … absolutely no