Texas Is Investing In Men’s Basketball, Seeing Dividends

Three years ago this month, then-Texas Tech coach Chris Beard led the unranked Red Raiders to a 13-point victory over No. 1 Louisville at the Jimmy V Classic in New York. The convincing win was considered an upset, but it was far from an anomaly for Beard during his tenure.

On Tuesday night, Beard coached again in that same event at Madison Square Garden. This time, he was coaching at the University of Texas, his alma mater, which has invested heavily in Beard and his staff.

The result wasn’t what Texas wanted as the Longhorns lost, 85-78, in overtime to Illinois at Madison Square Garden. The Illini overcame a five-point deficit with less than a minute remaining in regulation and dominated the extra session.

Despite the loss, the Longhorns’ financial largess is paying early dividends. During the 2021-22 season, Beard’s first at Texas, the Longhorns went 22-12 and won their first NCAA tournament game since the 2014-15 season.

This season, Texas entered Tuesday with a 6-0 record for the first time since the 2014-15 season and had victories over No. 18 Gonzaga and No. 21 Creighton, two teams that were considered Final Four contenders in the preseason. The Longhorns are No. 2 in the Associated Press poll, their highest ranking since they were first in January 2010.

After Tuesday’s loss, Texas will fall in next week’s poll. Still, the respected KenPom.com analytics website projects that the Longhorns will be favored to win each of its remaining games except for their Jan. 28 game at Tennessee in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

Texas had to pay up after the 2020-21 season to lure Beard from Texas Tech, where he went 112-55 in five seasons, including appearances in the NCAA tournament’s Elite Eight in 2018 and national title game in 2019. Beard, who turns 50 in February, reportedly rejected overtures from other colleges that wanted to hire him, but he couldn’t say no to the Longhorns.

Beard earns $5 million annually in salary through March 2028 and is eligible for up for $850,000 in total performance bonuses, according to the Austin American-Statesman. That compares with the roughly $3.5 million salary that Texas was paying former coach Shaka Smart.

Texas isn’t skimping on Beard’s assistants and support staff, either. The American-Statesman reports notes that the program’s managing director, Chris Ogden, is earning $507,500 per year; associate head coach Rodney Terry is earning $500,000 per year; and strength coach John Reilly is earning $300,000 per year. All of those contracts run through 2024.

Ogden left a head coaching job at the University of Texas-Arlington to join Beard, with whom he worked under as an assistant for two seasons. Ogden is a Texas alum and former player with the Longhorns. Reilly also worked with Beard at Texas Tech, while Terry resigned as UTEP’s head coach to join Beard’s staff.

Texas is also playing in a brand new on-campus arena, the Moody Center, a multipurpose, $375 million venue that will play host to both the men’s and women’s basketball teams as well as concerts and other events.

Since arriving at Texas, Beard has revamped the roster. Senior Brock Cunningham is the only player averaging more than 10 minutes per game who played under Smart.

The starting lineup consists of freshman Dillon Mitchell, the No. 5 recruit in the 247Sports Composite for the high school class of 2022 and ESPN’s No. 12 ranked prospect for the 2023 NBA draft, as well as four transfers: Tyrese Hunter (Iowa State), Timmy Allen (Utah), Dylan Disu (Vanderbilt) and Marcus Carr (Minnesota).

Besides Cunningham, the other top reserves are transfers Sir’Jabari Rice (New Mexico State) and Christian Bishop (Creighton) as well as freshman Arterio Morrris, the No. 16 ranked recruit, according to the 247Sports Composite.

On Tuesday, Carr’s jumper put the Longhorns ahead, 68-63, with a minute remaining. Illinois scored the next five points, but Texas still had a shot to win it at the end of regulation, only to see Carr miss a shot in the paint as the buzzer sounded.

During overtime, Texas committed four turnovers and never got in sync, while Illinois clinched the victory by making 8 of 11 free throws in the extra session. Terrance Shannon, who played for Beard at Texas Tech, scored 12 points in overtime for the Illini.

“We had a great November,” Beard said. “Now it’s December. We’ve done a good job of learning from victory ever since this summer. Now, we’ve got to try to learn from a night where we didn’t win on the score board.”

Texas returns to action on Saturday against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Although KenPom predicts the Longhorns as the favorites in all but one of their remaining games, the website also has the Big 12 first in its conference rankings, so Texas will face several tough games in conference play. Still, as the freshmen and transfers become more accustomed to playing together, the Longhorns should remain among the nation’s best teams all season.

“That’s a hell of a basketball team,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “They’re No. 2 for a reason. They’re old. I’ve known Chris for 100 years and have a ton of respect for him. Tonight, we just happened to find a way, but they’re going to have a great year.”