Chris Beard welcome to Austin

Chris Beard, Texas Tech head coach. It’s as automatic as it gets to put Beard on this list. It’s his alma mater. The coaching bona fides are of course unimpeachable. Beard would shock the system in Austin and establish an inviolable culture. The only question is whether he believes he has a better job now. Texas Tech will open its $32 million practice facility soon. Fans pack the arena. He gets compensated extremely well. Beard, frankly, has the internal line of credit to do just about anything he wants if it’s meant to better Red Raiders men’s basketball. But, it’s Texas, with a new arena and all. Basically, if he goes to Austin and not, say, Bloomington, we’ll have our answer about what Beard’s dream job is.

Mike Boynton, Oklahoma State head coach. Not surprisingly, there’s plenty of buzz about Oklahoma State working to keep the 39-year-old Boynton right where he is. Here’s guessing that hasn’t kept Boynton or his people from keeping an ear to the ground. If he’s seeking something like five to seven years and $3 million-plus per, Texas should be able to swing that; it wouldn’t be an outrageous budget strain given the department didn’t have to cough up buyout money for Smart. Boynton is a rising star who knows the league. Pretty clearly, the guy can recruit high-end talent but also coach that talent into a cohesive, successful unit. To put it mildly, the University of Texas has had better years in terms of awareness on racial matters. Austin is a forward-thinking spot. Another forward-thinking hire makes a lot of sense.

John Calipari, Kentucky head coach. You got that right. We defer to Kyle Tucker, The Athletic expert on all matters Kentucky: “Here’s what we know: John Calipari and a large number of Kentucky fans are not on the same page after a 9-16 season that was the program’s worst in almost a century — and during which players expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement and took a knee for the national anthem before a game at Florida. Calipari knelt with his players, then tried to walk it back after facing major backlash, then had to refute the idea he wasn’t supportive of the protest. It was, like the on-court product, a mess. So the relationship is strained on a number of fronts. “One-and-done fatigue” is officially part of the lexicon in Lexington. Is it crazy, then, to think Calipari wants a change of scenery? He said 10 years is probably the most any man should sit in the pressure-cooker at a place such as Kentucky, but now he’s headed into Year 13. The problem with him leaving for a fresh start is one of money. Lots and lots and lots of money. In July 2019, Calipari signed what amounts to a lifetime contract at Kentucky. It guaranteed him $8 million the first two seasons, $8.5 million the next four and $9 million for the last four years, ending after the 2028-29 season. But starting in the summer of 2024, he can resign at any time and begin a role as special assistant to the AD and university ambassador making $950,000 a year. Who in the world could give him anywhere close to that sweet a deal? Well, it is a very short list that probably includes Texas.”

Eric Musselman, Arkansas head coach. At this stage, it might be college basketball law to put Musselman on any short list for a major job opening. It’s debatable whether Musselman has it better in Fayetteville than he might have in, for example, Minneapolis. But it’s probably not debatable that Texas is a more enticing opportunity, given the talent base from which to draw. And at a time when Texas needs to stoke its followers’ energy and capitalize on the momentum of a new building, nobody would out-salesman Musselman.

Kelvin Sampson, Houston head coach. So, on the one hand, Sampson is 65 and has spent the last decade in Houston and might not be inclined to make a late-career change like this. And Texas might not view him as the guy who can lead a charge into a new arena and a new era. But Sampson’s college basketball team located in the state of Texas is still playing basketball this weekend. His college basketball program located in the state of Texas has gone 107-23 over the past four seasons. It’s maybe not totally recent history, but he has made a Final Four out of the Big 12 this century. Probably would be surprising for either side to want to move in this direction, but he’d also be a sort of wizened mind to shake up the dynamic after parting ways with the up-and-comer.

Brad Underwood, Illinois head coach. For what it’s worth, Underwood declared Illinois to be his dream job upon his hire there. For what it’s worth, there are arguments to be made that Illinois is a better job than Texas, and Underwood may in fact believe that to be the case, rendering this idea moot. And the Illini still should be pretty loaded in 2021-22, and he’s compensated very well for a guy living life in Champaign, Ill. But he’s also a Kansas native steeped in Big 12 experience who had his breakthrough in Texas as the coach at Stephen F. Austin and he just led a team to a No. 1 seed. Not sure how likely it would be, but it also has a weird feel of a “zag” hire when everyone expects Texas to “zig.”