Chris Beard: 4 Things to Know About Texas Tech's Head Coach

Chris Beard has led Texas Tech to their first-ever Final Four on the strength of some absolutely tenacious defense, taking down Michigan and Gonzaga en route. Here’s what you need to know about the Red Raiders’ head coach.

He has a back tattoo

Yes, it is true. Beard has a tattoo on his back in the shape of 4:1, which is (surprisingly) not a reference to a Bible verse. No, according to the coach, 4:1 is a ratio. Specifically, the ratio of mental toughness to physical toughness, which is how Beard lives his life. You can check out the tattoo below, at the 1:00 mark.

Beard worked at Tech under Bob Knight

This is not Beard’s first stint at Texas Tech. He coached there for 10 years as an assistant under the famous Bob Knight, he of chair-throwing legend. He also served under Knight’s son and successor, Pat Knight.

Beard was a head coach in the ABA

Before he fully committed to taking his talents to the college level, Beard dabbled in semi-professional basketball as the head coach of the South Carolina Warriors. He actually led the team to an undefeated regular season before pulling a Patriots and losing 2-0 in a best-of-three final round, after which he left to go coach McMurry State.

He was UNLV’s head coach for 19 days

After winning coach of the year as head coach of Arkansas-Little Rock, Beard was offered, and accepted, the head coaching job at the University of Las Vegas. In the two and a half weeks that followed, Tubby Smith abruptly left Texas Tech to go to Memphis, and Beard reneged on his agreement with UNLV to take the job at Texas Tech, citing his time under Bob and Pat Knight as his motivation to turn his back on UNLV.