Chris Beard reportedly set to become UNLV head coach

Las Vegas better start preparing those “Fear the Beard” T-shirts.

According to a report by Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Sunday, Little Rock’s Chris Beard has agreed in principle to become the next head basketball coach of the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels.

Chris Beard has agreed in principle to become the next #UNLVmbb coach. #RJnow

— Mark Anderson (@markanderson65) March 28, 2016

Jeff Goodman of ESPN adds that the deal is expected to be for five years.

Arkansas Little Rock coach Chris Beard is on the verge of agreeing to a 5-year deal to become the next coach at UNLV, sources told ESPN.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) March 28, 2016

Beard, 43, was hired as the head coach of the Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans in 2015, leading them this past season to a 30-5 record and a Sun Belt Tournament title (making headlines in the championship game for breaking his hand punching a whiteboard at halftime).

Beard, a former assistant at Texas Tech under Bobby Knight, also guided the Trojans to a memorable double overtime upset of Purdue in the first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament (after which the team celebrated in style).

UNLV is coming off a subpar season in which they went 18-15 with a losing record in conference play and failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year. Former head coach Dave Rice was fired by the team in January.

The Rebels were said to be in pursuit of Saint Mary’s Randy Bennett as well as Cincinnati’s Mick Cronin to fill the vacancy, but both ultimately opted to stay with their current teams.

Image Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

H/T theScore