Texas Tech basketball: Chris Beard’s best press conferences

We didn’t get nearly enough Chris Beard in our lives this March so let’s look back on some of his best press conferences as Texas Tech basketball head coach.

While the intensity of the basketball that is played during the final full month of the season is what makes March great, it is also a time when some of the game’s greatest personalities catch fire nationally as the media presence ramps up the further into the NCAA Tournament the month goes.  So while we all missed seeing what March Madness would have had in store for us on the court this year, we also were robbed of the opportunity to see Chris Beard hold court with the national media.

Make no mistake, few coaches in the nation are better in front of the camera than Beard.  It’s where his self-effacing charm is at its best and it is where he seems to have more fun than any coach that just saw his team compete in a high-stakes game should have.

In the last two seasons, we’ve also seen that side of the head coach through his numerous fireside chats.  These short social media videos have become must-see for Red Raider fans as they have featured everyone from current players and assistants to football coach Matt Wells, baseball coach Tim Tadlock, and even some of the biggest names in sports media such as Jim Rome.

Those videos allow Beard’s dead-pan schtick to bring humor to a series of announcements about such mundane details as game times, ticket specials, and other housekeeping items that the athletic department wants to convey to the fan base.  But Beard is at his best when he has an opportunity to interact with people in uncontrolled settings such as press conferences.

Perhaps those press conferences give us some insight as to why he is so effective on the recruiting trail.  They show us how engaging and relatable Beard can be as his everyman personality always comes through.

Despite now being one of the highest-paid coaches in the game, at heart Beard is always going to be a man of the people.  Always genuine, courteous, honest, and humble regardless of the situation, he’s taken the art of the press conference to a new level for Red Raider fans.

Mike Leach was always unpredictable with the media (such as his famous quote about a pirate beating a soldier after Tech took down A&M in 2007 or his infamous quote about “fat little girlfriends” in 2009), Bob Knight was always curmudgeonly, and Kliff Kingsbury was always generic.  Beard is none of those things (except perhaps a bit unpredictable, but in a more lovingly manner than Leach, as we will see in a moment) when entertaining the press but what he is can’t properly be described by words.  It has to be witnessed.

So let’s look back at some of Beard’s best press conference moments from his time at Texas Tech.  As we do, we will run the gamut of emotions and see how he has reacted in all manner of situations to find that he’s always himself despite what may have just transpired.  During this time of an international pandemnic, we could all use a little more Chris Beard in our lives so why wait until next season for that?