Texas Coach Chris Beard High On Incoming Transfers

After parting ways with former head coach Shaka Smart and hiring new head coach Chris Beard this spring, the Texas Longhorns figure to be a major power in the league right away.

The team may have fallen to Abilene Christian in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this year under Smart, but 247Sports' Robbie Weinstein says Texas put the Big 12 on notice by bringing in Beard, who has since raided the NCAA transfer portal.

The Longhorns recently received commitments from three top transfers: former Kentucky guard Devin Askew, former Creighton forward Christian Bishop and former Utah wing Timmy Allen, the article states.

"We feel like we got the guys that fit us best," Beard said. "These are top-choice guys. We're at Texas. We're not into second options. We're not into second place, and it's the same thing in recruiting — we're here to win, and winning to us is getting our top choices and that's exactly how we feel about getting these guys."

Bishop and Allen are already quality starters, and Askew could join the duo as well. He was a highly-rated recruit who had a solid freshman season at Kentucky last year.

"With Devin, we love to get guys that have been coached," Beard said, per 247Sports. "We always really study high school coaching and the AAU coaching and this is kind of one of the things we always look at."

Beard said he'll always remember his first conversation with Askew and the gratitude he showed.

"He's a no-excuse guy," Beard said. "Just looking for the next opportunity. That really made a huge impression on me. And he is a first-class guy, a talented player. All about player development and where he believes his game can go, and we share that vision with him."

Beard said Allen and others are impact guys.

"And we're not shying away from the expectations," he said. "And like I told Timmy on the first conversation, 'Hey, man, everybody can't coach at Texas. I'm wired for this. I'm ready, and I love the challenge, I love the pressure. Everybody can't play at Texas.' And he cut me off about mid sentence and said, 'Coach, right on. It's why I'm on the phone with you.' So it was kind of another goosebump, first-phone-call meeting. It materialized quickly for both of us. But I can't wait to coach this guy, especially on this stage."