Contents
As the college basketball season comes to a close, all eyes are on texas tech Who will they hire to replace former head coach Chris Beard?
Checkout this video:
Introduction
Texas Tech has fired men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith, the school announced Monday. Smith was in his sixth season with the Red Raiders and had a career record of 61-61 at texas tech
The school will now begin a search for a new head coach. Here are five names that could be on the short list for the job.
1. Shaka Smart
Shaka Smart is the current head coach at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has a career record of 218-99 and has led VCU to the NCAA tournament in six of his seven seasons as head coach.
2. Chris Beard
Chris Beard is the current head coach at University of Texas at Arlington. He has a career record of 60-16 and has led UT Arlington to the NCAA tournament in two of his three seasons as head coach.
3. Buzz Williams
Buzz Williams is the current head coach at virginia tech He has a career record of 301-155 and has led virginia tech to the NCAA tournament in four of his five seasons as head coach.
4. Fred Hoiberg
Fred Hoiberg is the current head coach of the Chicago Bulls. He has a career record of 115-155 and led the Bulls to the playoffs in his first season as head coach. Prior to coaching in the NBA, Hoiberg was the head coach at Iowa State University where he had a record of 115-56 and led Iowa State to four consecutive NCAA tournaments.
5. Bill Self
Bill Self is the current head coach at Kansas University. He has a career record of 577-206 and has led Kansas to 14 consecutive NCAA tournaments, including two Final Fours and one National Championship game appearance.
The Candidates
There are many qualified candidates for the recently open position for the Men’s Basketball Head Coach at Texas Tech, but only a few stand out as the top contenders. Some of the names that have been brought up include Billy Gillispie, T.J. Ford, and Mark Turgeon.
Chris Beard
Chris Beard is a name that has been linked to the Texas Tech head coaching vacancy since it opened up. Beard, who is currently the head coach of the University of Texas at Austin, is a native of Texas and played college basketball at Texas Tech from 1991-1995. He began his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater before moving on to assistant coaching stints at Concordia University, Angelo State University, and the University of New Mexico. In 2011, he was named the head coach of Little Rock, where he led the team to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2015. He then moved on to become the head coach at UNLV in 2016, but left after just one season to take over at Texas Tech. In his two seasons with the Red Raiders, Beard has led the team to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 2018.
Buzz Williams
The first candidate that has been linked with the job is current virginia tech head coach Buzz Williams.
Williams, who is a native of Texas, played his college basketball at Navarro Junior College and Oklahoma City University before embarking on a coaching career.
He has been a head coach for 15 years, including stops at Marquette and Virginia Tech. His overall coaching record is 234-155.
During his time at Virginia Tech, Williams has led the Hokies to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances. This season, the Hokies went 23-8 overall and 13-5 in the ACC.
Eric Musselman
sources close to the situation have told Red Raiders Wire that the leading candidate for the vacant texas tech basketball head coaching job is Eric Musselman.
Musselman, who is currently the head coach of the NBA’s Nevada Golden State Warriors’ G-League affiliate in Reno, has been linked to the tech job since Tubby Smith was let go last week.
The 54-year-old Musselman has an extensive college and professional coaching resume that includes stops at LSU, Memphis, Arizona State, NBA stops with the Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic and he was even head coach of the NBA D-League’s Los Angeles D-Fenders.
Pros and Cons of Each Candidate
Texas Tech is in the market for a new basketball coach and there are a few names being tossed around.
Chris Beard
Chris Beard is a name that has been bandied about quite a bit lately in regards to the head coaching vacancy at Texas Tech. Beard has done an excellent job at Little Rock, taking them to the NCAA Tournament in each of his two seasons there. He has a record of 48-20 at Little Rock, and has shown an ability to develop talent and get the most out of his players.
There are some negatives with Beard as well. He has only been a head coach for two seasons, and hasn’t coached at a high-level program before. He also doesn’t have any ties to Texas Tech or the state of Texas, which could be viewed as a negative by some.
All in all, Chris Beard is a name to keep an eye on for the Texas Tech head coaching vacancy. He has shown he can win at the mid-major level, and has done it without any prior head coaching experience.
Buzz Williams
Buzz Williams, currently the head coach of Virginia Tech, is known as a defensive coach. In his six years at Virginia Tech, Williams has led the Hokies to 3 NCAA tournaments and 1 NIT appearance. Last season, Virginia Tech finished with a 23-12 record and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Florida.
One concern with Williams is his age. He will turn 50 this year, which is relatively old for a head coach in college basketball. Additionally, he has never coached at a school with the resources that Texas Tech has. While he has had success at Virginia Tech, it remains to be seen if he can replicate that success at a school like Texas Tech.
Eric Musselman
Musselman, 52, has been the Wolf Pack’s head coach for the past four seasons. During his time at Nevada, Musselman has led the team to four consecutive Mountain West Conference regular season titles and three NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Sweet Sixteen berth in 2018.
Prior to his time at Nevada, Musselman served as an assistant coach in the NBA with several teams, including the Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies, and Phoenix Suns. He also had two stints as a head coach in the NBA, leading both the Sacramento Kings and the Atlanta Hawks.
Musselman has been praised for his strong recruiting ability and his team’s uptempo style of play. However, some have criticized his fiery temperament and questioned whether he has the necessary people skills to be a successful head coach at a major university.
Conclusion
In the end, it is hard to say who Texas Tech will hire to be their next basketball coach. They may go with someone who has experience coaching at the collegiate level or they may go with someone who has been successful at the high school level. There are many qualified candidates out there, so it will be interesting to see who Texas Tech decides to hire.
