Texas Basketball: Beard adds ex-UTA head coach Chris Ogden to his staff

The process of the coaching staff surrounding the newly hired Texas basketball head coach Chris Beard has already started to form together after he was hired away from the Texas Tech Red Raiders on the morning of April 1. It was not April Fool’s Day on the Forty Acres when the news arrived that the former Texas Tech head coach Beard was taking over in the same role with Texas.

Beard will be replacing the former Longhorns sixth-year head coach Shaka Smart, after he made his way to become the next Marquette Golden Eagles head coach back on March 26. Texas didn’t have to wait long to find their next men’s hoops head coach, though, with Beard getting hired less than one week after Smart’s departure.

And the initial addition to Beard’s assistant coaching staff for him on the Forty Acres is already starting to come together. The first known addition surfaced later in the afternoon on April 1.

The first report that the Longhorns were going to hire the former Texas-Arlington Mavericks head coach Chris Ogden as an assistant on Beard’s staff came from Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Texas should continue to see the coaching and support staff round out under Beard in the coming weeks.

Texas basketball adding former UTA head coach Chris Ogden

What Texas is getting in Ogden is a former Longhorns assistant coach that followed Rick Barnes around for much of his run as a head coach. Ogden was on staff with Barnes at Texas from 2008-2015. And then he joined the Tennessee Volunteers with Barnes for one more year, back during the 2015-16 season.

He also held assistant coaching/associate head coach roles with Texas Tech and UNLV Rebels prior to landing the head coaching job with UTA.

During his time as the UTA head coach, Ogden registered a record of 44-47 over the course of three seasons. He also finished up the 2020-21 season with a record of 13-13 (9-8 Sun Belt). And Ogden was the Sun Belt Coach of the Year for the 2018-19 season, his first at UTA.

Ogden was a forward for the Longhorns in the early 2000s, including for their Final Four run in 2003. He seems like a really good fit for this Texas coaching staff and could help on the recruiting trail immediately.

Texas finished up with a record of 19-8 (11-6 Big 12) last season under Smart’s direction after their early NCAA Tournament exit in a loss to the 14-seed Abilene Christian. They will get the former fifth-year Texas Tech head coach Beard to replace Smart.