Texas Basketball: 3 reasons why Chris Beard was the perfect hire

An absolutely amazing hire arrived for the Texas basketball program on April 1 as they replaced former head coach Shaka Smart with Chris Beard. The former Texas Tech Red Raiders fifth-year head coach Beard took his program in Lubbock to new heights over the course of the last half-decade or so, and looked like the candidate that topped the wish list for Texas.

What caused the head coaching job for Texas to come about so abruptly was their former sixth-year head coach Smart bolting from Austin back on March 26 to take the same job with the Marquette Golden Eagles. Smart wound up replacing the former Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski, who was let go roughly two weeks ago from the program.

Smart and the three-seed Longhorns wound up falling short in agonizing fashion in the Round of 64 back on March 20 at the hands of head coach Joe Golding and the upset-minded 14-seed Abilene Christian Wildcats. Texas fell short to ACU two weekends ago to find themselves exiting March Madness early by just a one-point margin on last-second free throws made by junior Wildcats big man Joe Pleasant.

That loss to ACU in the Round of 64 put Smart on the hot seat again entering this offseason. Despite winning the first Big 12 Tournament crown in program history and having a mostly successful regular season, the Longhorns still entered the offseason on a disappointing note.

But that disappointment should be able to turn around fast after the April 1 hiring of Beard. Here’s a look at three reasons why the Longhorns got an absolute home run hire for their next hoops head coach in Beard.