After serving as a student assistant at Texas and a graduate assistant at Incarnate Word and Abilene Christian, Beard was an assistant coach at North Texas 1997–1999. From there, he was hired as head coach at Fort Scott Community College where he coached the team to a 19–12 record and its first winning season in 8 years. In 2000, he was hired as the head coach at Seminole State College. In his one-year there he went 25–6 and finished ranked 14th in the country. Following that season, he was hired as an assistant and later associate head coach at Texas Tech to work under the legendary Bob Knight. During his time at Texas Tech, the Red Raiders made four NCAA Tournament appearances along with a trip to the NIT Final Four. Chris Beard spent 10 years coaching at Texas Tech under Bob Knight and his son Pat Knight, often citing the influence of the two men as his keys to success. Beard also spent one year as head coach for the South Carolina Warriors of the American Basketball Association, where he led the team to a 29–2 record. In 2012, he was hired as head coach at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas where he spent one season. In March 2013, he was hired as the sixth head coach at Angelo State. In two years with the Rams, he went 47–15.
Little Rock
On April 8, 2015, Beard was named the head coach of Arkansas–Little Rock. In his first and only season at UALR, the Trojans went 30–5 and won the regular season and Sun Belt tournament titles to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Little Rock was awarded a 12 seed and knocked off fifth-seeded Purdue 85–83 in double overtime to advance to the Second Round, where they fell to Iowa State. Beard was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year for his efforts.
Texas Tech
On March 27, 2016, Beard accepted the head coaching job at UNLV. When the Texas Tech head coaching job was made vacant by Tubby Smith's departure to Memphis, Beard took the Texas Tech job on April 15, 2016. Beard cited his 10 years as an assistant coach at Texas Tech University under Bob Knight and Pat Knight amongst the reasons that he took the job and the proximity to his daughters who live a few hours away from Lubbock. On January 3, 2017, Beard led Texas Tech to upset #7 West Virginia leading the Red Raiders to their first regular-season win over the Mountaineers in program history. The following year he again led Texas Tech to a 72-71 win over #2 WVU. His 2017-18 team was also the first Texas Tech team to win at Kansas, snapping a 17-game road losing streak against the Jayhawks. Beard won the Big 12 Co-Coach of the Year in 2018. On March 23, 2018 Beard coached Texas Tech to its first-ever Elite Eight berth in program history with a 78–65 win over the Purdue Boilermakers. On March 9, 2019 under Beard's leadership Texas Tech won a share of the Big 12 regular season title, Texas Tech's first ever title in the Big 12 conference and its first conference title since 1996 when the team played in the Southwest Conference. At the conclusion of the 2019 season, Beard earned Big 12 coach of the year honors as he led Texas Tech to a 26-5 regular season record, second only to Tech's 30-1 record in 1995-96. On March 30, 2019 Beard led Texas Tech to the first Final Four appearance in school history with a 75-69 victory over Gonzaga to win the West Regional. On April 6, 2019 Beard led the Red Raiders to a 61-51 victory over Michigan State to earn the school’s first National Championship berth. The Red Raiders would finish runners-up to Virginia in the final, losing 85-77 in overtime. For his efforts, on April 29, 2019 Beard signed a six-year extension worth more than $4.5 million a season, becoming the third-highest-paid college basketball coach in the country.
Family
Beard has three daughters, Avery, Ella, and Margo.
