Chris Beard meets with Texas Tech; UNLV hopes issue 'resolved' Friday

Chris Beard, who secured the head-coaching job at UNLV less than a week ago, was contacted by Texas Tech and met with the Red Raiders about their coaching vacancy Thursday night in Las Vegas.

Tina Kunzer-Murphy, UNLV's athletic director, released a statement Thursday night confirming the meeting.

"Late this afternoon, I was contacted by the athletics director at Texas Tech seeking permission to speak with Coach Beard about its men's basketball head-coaching vacancy," she said in the statement. "This evening, Coach Beard met with officials from Texas Tech. We were made aware of the meeting before it took place. I have since met with Coach Beard, and we have agreed to have this resolved by tomorrow."

Tubby Smith left as Texas Tech's coach to accept the job at Memphis on Thursday morning.

Sources told ESPN that Beard is intrigued largely because of his background at Texas Tech and because he has three daughters who live two hours from Lubbock, Texas.

Beard was an assistant coach at Texas Tech for 10 seasons under Bob Knight and Pat Knight.

Beard led Arkansas-Little Rock to the NCAA tournament and a first-round upset of Purdue this past season in his first year as a Division I head coach. He agreed with UNLV on March 28 to a five-year deal worth $900,000 per season but had to wait 11 days before the school's board of regents ratified his contract.

Texas Tech could pay more than double what Beard will earn at UNLV.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.