Regents expected to pass Chris Beard’s UNLV contract, but not without debate

Most of the time when a prospective coach goes before the University of Nevada Board of Regents, it’s a foregone conclusion on how the vote will go.

The news conference, in fact, to introduce the new coach to the fan base typically has taken place before the meeting, and the regents are hardly noticed.

Not this year. Not today.

The regents will take center stage at noon at the Nevada System of Higher Education board room at 4300 S. Maryland Parkway. They will meet to debate and vote on the contract for Chris Beard, who hopes to officially become UNLV’s basketball coach. The meeting is open to the public, and it will be streamed live on the NSHE Media YouTube channel.

UNLV tentatively plans to schedule a news conference for 3 p.m. at the Mendenhall Center.

Based on interviews with regents and UNLV officials, indications are the vote will pass, but frustrations over the process will be expressed. Regents created a template for contracts to streamline the approval process, but believed it wasn’t closely followed in this case. UNLV officials argued otherwise.

“I’m optimistic (about the vote),” said regent James Dean Leavitt, who represents Clark County. “I think regents have a lot of questions. Whether (Friday) is the right day to ask them all is a different question. This is the first time that we’ve gone through this template process, and it’s been less than satisfactory, obviously, in terms of how it was handled. Not pointing fingers.”

Regents have complained privately that UNLV president Len Jessup has not properly communicated with them regarding the contractual details. A representative in the president’s office, however, said Jessup reached out to nine regents by Wednesday, and one regent said Jessup was calling the remaining four Thursday morning.

Regents are expected to question the terms of the contract, a five-year deal that pays a minimum of $900,000 next season and rises to at least $1.4 million by the fourth year. The highest-paid coach at either major state university was Lon Kruger, who made just more than $1 million when he coached the Rebels’ basketball team from 2004 to 2011.

Beard will be in attendance, which is a joint meeting between the full board and the ad hoc Committee on Athletics. Rick Trachok, who represents Washoe County and is strongly opposed to high coaches’ salaries, is the board chairman. Kevin Page, who represents Clark County, co-chairs the athletics committee with Jason Geddes, who represents Pershing and Washoe Counties.

The meeting is expected to be attended by a large group of UNLV fans eager to see their new coach get started. Beard hasn’t been able to hire a staff, recruit or even comment to the media after agreeing on March 27 to take the job after one season at Arkansas-Little Rock.

“I hear a lot of really good things about the coach,” said board vice chairman Michael Wixom, who represents Clark County.

Wixom didn’t want to comment further, and he wasn’t alone in wanting to keep his views to himself. Most regents didn’t give an indication at all about their thoughts on the contract.

“I want to see how it plays out,” Page said.

At stake in the meeting is the future of UNLV’s program, the reputations of both state universities and the regents that oversee them. That’s why the contract probably will be approved.

But if the regents vote it down, their decision would send the Rebels into a spiral. Beard almost certainly wouldn’t renegotiate, and he very well could file a lawsuit. It’s highly doubtful UNLV would be able to turn to a coach from the outside, and they would have to consider promoting Stacey Augmon or Ryan Miller from the staff.

As one regent noted, voting no would “set the program back five or 10 years.”

UNLV basketball would not be the only program affected. Coaches throughout the country would be hesitant to apply at UNLV or UNR for any major job.

And the regents know denying Beard the contract probably would damage their political careers.

So the regents aren’t happy, but they probably will settle with getting their points across in a public way as enough of a satisfaction while begrudgingly voting for the contract. UNLV will need its nine regents who represent only Clark County to support the deal in case the other four go against it.

Beard, 43, took Arkansas-Little Rock to a 17-victory improvement this season, going 30-5 and making the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65