K.C. Beard joined the University of Houston Men’s Basketball program as its video coordinator in May 2014.
He was elevated to assistant coach in April 2021 and moved to Special Assistant to Head Coach Kelvin Sampson in May 2022. He will return to his assistant coach duties for the 2023-24 season.
Beard is no stranger to the Houston Basketball program. He served as the team’s video coordinator since joining the program from 2014 to 2021.
As part of the Houston Basketball staff, Beard has played a key role in the program’s resurgence. The Cougars have won 20+ games in eight consecutive seasons (a first in program history), captured six American Athletic Conference championships (four regular-season, two tournament) and posted a 232-74 overall record with a 117-44 mark in conference games.
The Cougars have enjoyed five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Final Four berth in 2021 and an Elite Eight appearance in 2022.
The program has also reached national prominence by being ranked in the Top 25 in the Associated Press and Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll for six consecutive years with Top 10 showings in each of the last three seasons.
at HOUSTON
In 2022-23, Beard helped lead the Cougars to a 33-4 overall record and a 17-1 record in American Athletic Conference play.
The Cougars ranked among the nation’s Top-Six leaders in both national polls for the entire season and spent eight weeks at No. 1 for the first time since 1984.
Houston captured the American Athletic Conference regular-season title for the fourth time in a five-year stretch and swept the league’s postseason individual awards
The Cougars competed as the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1983 and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 or farther for the fourth straight season.
In 2021-22, Beard helped lead the Cougars to an unforgettable campaign while working with the Houston frontcourt.
Overcoming injuries to two key personnel shortly before American Athletic Conference play started, the Cougars posted a 32-6 overall record, swept the league’s regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight.
It was only the fourth time in school history in which the Cougars swept a conference regular-season and tournament titles and the first time since 1991-92.
Beard played a key role in the Cougars’ historic 2020-21 season.
With a 67-61 win over Oregon State on March 29, the Cougars returned to the NCAA Final Four, the program’s sixth Final Four appearance in school history.
Facing COVID-19 protocols throughout the season, the Cougars posted a 28-4 overall record and 14-3 mark in American play. The Cougars were ranked in both national polls for every week during the year and ended the campaign at No. 6 in the Associated Press and at No. 3 in the Ferris Mowers Coaches’ poll.
Houston capped the regular season with a thrilling, buzzer-beating win over Memphis inside the Fertitta Center and carried that momentum into the postseason.
The Cougars won three straight games in as many days to capture the American Athletic Conference Championship title inside Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, for the program first conference tournament title since 2010.
From there, Houston entered the NCAA Tournament bubble in Indianapolis. With wins over Cleveland State, Rutgers, Syracuse and Oregon State, the Cougars advanced to the program’s first NCAA Final Four since 1984.
Guard Quentin Grimes was named The American Player of the Year and collected similar honors at The American Championship. For his performance in the NCAA Tournament, guard DeJon Jarreau was named the Midwest Regional Most Outstanding Player.
Beard, who is a native of Parma, Idaho, first joined the Cougars after most working as a video intern for the NBA’s Utah Jazz during the 2013-14 season.
PRE-HOUSTON
During the summer of 2013, he worked as the video coordinator for the Canadian National Team. There, he worked with Sampson, who was an assistant coach on that staff.
Beard spent two seasons (2011-13) as a video intern with the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA. There, he assisted the video coordinator in preparing opponents’ scouting film and recorded and catalogued NBA, NCAA, international and high school games.
Before joining the Trail Blazers, he served as an assistant coach at Pacific (Ore.) in the fall of 2011.
He worked for two years as an assistant coach at West Texas A&M from 2009 to 2011. During his stint with the Buffs, Beard helped lead the team to a 39-20 record with wins against six top-25 teams. The Buffs’ 2010-11 team compiled a 23-7 record and advanced to the NCAA Regional Tournament.
Beard joined the professional ranks in 2008-09 as the video coordinator at SMU.
PERSONAL
Beard received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Boise State in 2008 and earned his master’s degree in business administration from West Texas A&M in 2011.
