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March 28, 2024

UNLV basketball:

Blog: Board of Regents approve Beard contract by 9-4 vote

Beard’s five-year deal is official and he talked about winning immediately at the ensuing news conference

UNLV basketball coach Chris Beard

L.E. Baskow

New UNLV basketball coach Chris Beard stands with others for the Pledge of Allegiance as the Nevada State Board of Regents meet to approve his five-year contract.

Updated Friday, April 8, 2016 | 4:17 p.m.

New UNLV Basketball Coach Chris Beard

New UNLV basketball coach Chris Beard discusses his coaching philosophy during a welcome gathering by supporters Friday, April 8, 2016, at Mendenhall Center. Launch slideshow »

After sitting still for more than two hours, which came nearly two weeks after agreeing to be UNLV's next basketball coach, Chris Beard was finally approved to be the Rebels' 12th full-time coach on a 9-4 vote by the Board of Regents. Beard will appear at a news conference later this afternoon.

"I’m not sure what the vote was but I think we won," Beard joked after standing up and facing the crowd.

After 15 people stepped to the mic for public comment — 14 were in favor of Beard, one questioned the financial aspects — the Regents took their turns addressing the deal. On a roll call vote, the nine in favor were Michael Wixom, Cedric Crear, Kevin Page, Andrea Anderson, Trevor Hayes, James Dean Leavitt, Mark Doubrava, Sam Lieberman and Kevin Melcher, while the four opposed were Jason Geddes, Allison Stephens, Rick Trachok and Robert Davidson.

Most of the opposition was in regards to either the financial terms — pledges from private donations are not necessarily legally binding — or changes to the APR's role in bonuses. There was confusion from some regents regarding their own misunderstanding of the contract, which doesn't award bonuses for meeting the NCAA's minimum four-year rolling score of 930 but rather gives most of its bonuses for postseason production, which UNLV would only qualify for with a qualifying APR score.

Ultimately, many regents ignored the request to talk only about this contract and made points about how they didn't like the process. Many in the public would say the same thing, but reworking that structure is something the regents must work on for the future.

Right now, the important thing is that after a long search and a long approvals process, Beard is officially UNLV's coach.

Nearly two weeks after agreeing in principal to become UNLV’s basketball coach, Chris Beard is expected to make it official today after a special Board of Regents meeting to approve his contract.

The 13 regents will meet at the Nevada System of Higher Education office near UNLV’s campus and discuss the five-year, $5.75 million contract that would make Beard the highest paid coach in state history. For some regents that’s simply too much money for a coach — especially one with only one season of Division I head-coaching experience — but despite some protestations there’s little doubt this contract would pass.

UNLV has planned a 3 p.m. news conference at the Mendenhall Center to introduce Beard, pending his contract approval of course. Check out this story for some details of the deal or go look at the entire contract here.

Beard, who was a head coach in junior college, Division II and semipro before leading Arkansas-Little Rock to a 30-5 season last year, hasn’t been able to operate in an official capacity as UNLV’s coach during this entire, weird purgatory period. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been working.

Multiple coaches are lined up to join the staff, including Little Rock’s Brian Burg and Tennessee’s Chris Ogden as associate head coach. That leaves one more spot, with both Ryan Miller and Stacey Augmon still under contract for next season. Miller has a few possibilities, while it’s unclear what Augmon wants to do.

Beard has also done some recruiting, which is necessary because this morning another player declared for the NBA Draft. Senior forward Chris Obekpa, who sat out last season after transferring in from St. John’s, has declared for the draft but will not hire an agent. Yesterday, freshman Derrick Jones Jr. did the same thing, while sophomore Pat McCaw and freshman Stephen Zimmerman Jr. have already decided to sign with agents, preventing any possible return.

Throw in transfers from sophomores Dwayne Morgan and Jordan Cornish, and there are currently only three scholarship players remaining: juniors Ben Carter and Tyrell Green and freshman Jalen Poyser.

So as soon as Beard gets approval, he’ll officially get underway rebuilding this roster.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

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