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NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FINAL FOUR

April 4, 2019

Minneapolis, Minnesota

THE MODERATOR: We're joined now by Barry Bedlan from the Associated Press and your 2019 AP Coach of the Year from the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Chris Beard.

(Applause.)

THE MODERATOR: Barry's going to start things off with an opening statement. Then we'll ask Coach to say a few words.

BARRY BEDLAN: I'm the sports product director for the Associated Press, and it's always my pleasure to come to the Final Four every year to announce our Coach and Players of the Year. Since 1967, the recipient of this award has been selected by the same panel of journalists who vote on the AP Top 25 Poll.

Past recipients include John Wooden, Bob Knight, Roy Williams, and two of the other coaches in this year's Final Four, Tom Izzo and Tony Bennett.

This year's recipient is the first for Texas Tech University. In fact, he is the first for any Texas school.

While he is a graduate and former student assistant of Texas Tech's rival, the University of Texas, his history is with the Red Raiders. He has served as an assistant, later associate head coach for ten seasons with Bob Knight and his son Pat. It is worth noting that the older Knight is a three-time recipient of this award during his days at Indiana.

This recipient left Tech in 2011 and coached a year with the ABA and then a year in Abilene, Texas, two years as head coach at Angelo State, also in Texas, and then at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock for his first season as a Division I head coach before returning to Lubbock.

Last year in only his second season at Tech, he led the team to its first winning record in Big 12 Conference play in 11 years as well as a trip to the Elite Eight where it lost to eventual champion Villanova. This year he has led Texas Tech to the most overall wins in a season with 30, a share of the Big 12 Conference regular season title, the program's first in 23 years, and most importantly, he also had led the Red Raiders to their first ever Final Four.

And, yes, he's done all this in just four years as a Division I coach. He's done it also at a school that has a reputation more for football than basketball, and he already has won -- he's already had as many 25-win seasons at Tech than they've had in its previous 90 years in the program.

As someone myself who moved from Atlanta to Dallas, when I came to Texas, I was told you're not a Texan, no matter how long you live here, because you weren't born here. But if you accomplish great things, the state will accept you.

Well, Coach Beard was born actually in the Atlanta area, moved to Texas at a young age, proud to call himself a Texan, and I would say, I think most Texans would claim him now given his winning record.

So this year's AP Men's College Basketball Coach of the Year is Chris Beard of Texas Tech.

(Applause.)

THE MODERATOR: Coach, do you want to say a few words?

CHRIS BEARD: Yes. First, I just want to thank everybody with the Associated Press, the voters, the board, and just tell you it's just an honor. It's really, really humbling, and it's something I don't take for granted. I'm just thrilled and honored to be a part of the list. I always look at the list of coaches, and it starts with Coach Wooden, one of the forefathers of our game.

I remember getting my first pyramid of success when I was a high school player, and Coach Knight, my mentor, and Coach Izzo, our next great opponent, and down the list, all the great coaches. It's humbling. You ask yourself how someone like me, a normal guy, could end up on a list like that, and really it's because of the game of basketball.

First, I just want to thank the game of basketball for everything it does for people. It changes lives, and it's just a special thing. Especially college basketball. When executed correctly, it can just change lives.

None of us are here today without basketball.

Second, and most importantly, this is an award that we won this year. I was having the same conversation with Jarrett Culver just a couple of weeks ago in my office when he won Big 12 Player of the Year, and Culver and I shared the view that any award you get in athletics in a team sport is team based. So I really share this award with everybody, not only on this year's team, but every Texas Tech team we've had as we built this.

I just really want to thank the players. It's so cool when we're here and we get the award and you guys are here. I don't know what I possibly could have what John Wooden and Bob Knight and Coach Izzo didn't have, but I don't think they had their team 30 minutes removed from practice sitting on the front row when we got the award. This is special. I want to thank each player that played on this year's team. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you guys. Thank you guys.

(Applause.)

Personally, if you'd just allow me a quick minute and just give me a favor. I just wanted to thank everybody that helped me get to this point to be able to coach a team like this year's Texas Tech team that's still playing in April, which is always a personal goal of mine. It started at Texas with Coach Penders and Eddie Oran and Vic Trilli giving me an opportunity, Danny Kaspar at Incarnate Word hired me for my first coaching job. Shannon Hayes -- I might have my moment right here, boys.

(Laughter.)

Shannon Hayes at Abilene Christian gave me my first full-time NCAA job, and Vic Trilli gave me a great break at the University of North Texas, where I was a young Division I assistant coach. And I got my first head coaching job at Fort Sky Community College. I'll always be indebted to Kevin Gundy giving me an opportunity, and then Rusty Beene gave me an equal opportunity at Seminole State College a year ago.

And then really the break of my career getting with Pat Knight and Coach Knight at Texas Tech where I spent ten years, and I'm really, really proud of. Cory Haffner and those guys hired me to coach the professional team, the South Carolina Warriors. Ron Holmes with McMurry University, Sean Johnson and Dr. Brian May giving me a chance to coach at Angelo State. Chase Conque believing in me when I was just a D-II coach, giving me a chance to coach on the biggest stage, making a really unpopular hire and hiring me to come to Little Rock. And ultimately, Kirby Hocutt giving me a chance to come back to Texas Tech, where we're building something special just in our third year.

I know that's a long list. I've had a great journey. Thank you for giving me the time to mention those people.

THE MODERATOR: We'll now take questions for Barry or Coach Beard.

Q. Chris, congratulations. One thing your players have talked about is even before practice started, the retreat you did in Happy, Texas. Could you talk about what you were trying to achieve, the inspiration for that, and what you saw coming out of that with this team.
CHRIS BEARD: Chuck, I'd be glad to. One thing I left out, we just got done practicing, so I don't know if I'm really on point here. Certainly, all the coaches that I've worked with over the years, it's humbling to see Augie and Al and I think Ted's maybe here, might be some other guys, Trilli. I appreciate all you guys and everything you all did for us.

What was the question? The ADD's kicking in.

Q. The retreat, what you wanted to get out of it and what you saw with this team.
CHRIS BEARD: As you guys know, I'm really a fan of college football. It's kind of my passion equally with basketball, which is more of a profession. So I spent a lot of time. I was reading a book about Bear Bryant and the Junction Boys, where Coach Bryant took his first A&M team down to Junction, Texas, which is about 4 1/2 from Lubbock, and his teams had a retreat basically, a little bit more than a retreat in those days.

We came up with the idea, if we could get the guys out of town every year before official practice starts, kind of set some goals, get to know each other, it could be a special thing when a team executes and buys in.

This team executed as well as I've ever seen. They really bought in. We had a special weekend away from cell phones, away from outside distractions, and really defined who we are and who we wanted to be.

Q. Might as well take advantage of the opportunity. Chris, have you heard anything from Nick Saban about the offer of seats behind your bench? And in a more serious way, you talked about the process, the players talked about the process. How much have you been influenced by trying to incorporate some of the things Nick Saban does with his program?
CHRIS BEARD: Yeah, quite a bit. I have not heard from Coach, from my knowledge, but I'm not really on my cell phone this month at all. Really haven't checked a text or a call for a long time. I apologize to any friends out there who are hammering me that I haven't returned phone calls. We believe in eliminating distraction ins our program. That's one thing I do in the month of March.

Yeah, of course, I study everything I can about Coach Saban. Besides Texas Tech football, I follow Alabama about as close as anybody other than Tech. And just the process, basically, where you know you're not results-oriented deal, it's a day-to-day process, not so much the scoreboard, but winning each day is basically the backbone of what we try to do with Tech basketball.

Q. What have you found to be the value of having moved around a lot?
CHRIS BEARD: You know, I've never really considered it moving around. When you win, you coach good players, opportunities come. I can honestly tell you only one time in my career have I ever really been looking for a job, and that's when I needed one. So just opportunities come when you coach really good players, but I think there is probably experience and value in coaching in different situations.

I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything. I'm very proud of my background in small college and junior college and Division II. I feel like I represent a lot of people, maybe people I don't even know.

To be sitting up here getting this award today is so humbling. I hope that there's some coaches like myself out there that see this and don't ever give up. Don't let anybody ever tell you where you can coach and what you can and can't do. Just keep fighting and love the game. It's all about basketball. Just coach your guys and try to win the next game and do the right thing and get your team to play the right way and get guys better and develop games. If you do that, basketball is a great game. It can do a lot. Obviously, it's done a lot for me and my family. It's done a lot for those players.

The game of basketball, I think, is just a beautiful thing.

Q. Tariq Owens, Texas Tech men's basketball. How you doing?
CHRIS BEARD: Hey, Tariq.

Q. So we were just wondering, if you were to consider yourself to be a dog, what kind of dog would you be?
CHRIS BEARD: I like all dogs, Tariq. I've had a few over the years. I'm the guy one time that went to a mall right next to Chick-Fil-A, and there was a pet store. I went in there and saw this little fluffy white dog, and everybody kind of was holding it all day. And I asked what it cost, and it was ridiculous. But because I have three daughters, Tariq, I was influenced into buying a pet store dog, and the pet store dog was great. It got home, and it whined a little bit, but it had been around people. I had no problem with the pet store dog.

But I'm also a guy who has bought a dog at the humane society, and those are those dogs more like street dogs. They've got about 48 to live. And they live with a little more urgency, and they understand accountability and discipline a little bit better. They're fortunate. They're not entitled because they were in the pound, man.

So with all due respect to pet store dogs, I really prefer street dogs.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach, and congratulations.

CHRIS BEARD: Thank you very much.

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