Ryan Beard (born 1988/1989) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the head coach for the

Missouri State Bears The Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears are the athletic teams representing Missouri State University (formerly Southwest Missouri State University). Missouri State's athletics programs date back to 1908. Missouri State competes in the NCAA Div ...

of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Western Kentucky and later coached them, Louisville, Northern Michigan, and Central Michigan before receiving a job at Missouri State in 2020.

Early life and education

A native of Bowling Green, Kentucky, Beard attended Bowling Green High School where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

for four seasons and helped them reach the Class 3A championship twice. He began playing

for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in 2007 as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and was an all-

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

selection. Beard became a starter in 2008. He graduated following the 2011 season and has two degrees from Western Kentucky: a Bachelor of Science in business management and a Master of Science in recreation and sports administration. He was twice named All-

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

in his time with the Hilltoppers and was also an all-academic selection, additionally being given the school's "Iron Man Award" as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

after posting 51 stops. His career-high in tackles came as a junior in 2010, when he recorded 71.

Coaching career

Beard began his coaching career immediately after graduating from Western Kentucky, serving as the Hilltoppers' defensive graduate assistant from 2012 to 2013. He served as the defensive quality control coach for the Louisville Cardinals in 2014, and after one season in that position, became an assistant at Northern Michigan, working with the cornerbacks. Beard was to serve as Northern Michigan secondary coach in 2016, but left for Western Kentucky in July of that year. He served as their defensive backs coach for one season. In 2017, he returned to Louisville, where he served as an assistant for two seasons. Beard coached the special teams and safeties at Central Michigan in 2019. Beard was named

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

and safeties coach for the

in 2020. In his first season in the position, he helped them set the school record for single-season sacks and reach the playoffs for the first time in 30 years. The next year, the Bears defense again broke the single-season sack record and they made the playoffs for the second consecutive year. Following the 2022 season, where Missouri State went 5–6 and missed the playoffs, Beard was named the new head coach.

Personal life

Beard is married to Katie, the daughter of Bobby Petrino, whom Beard succeeded as Missouri State head coach in 2023. As of 2022, they have four children together.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Louisville profile

Central Michigan profile

Missouri State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, Ryan 1980s births Living people American football defensive backs Players of American football from Kentucky Sportspeople from Bowling Green, Kentucky Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football players Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football coaches Louisville Cardinals football coaches Central Michigan Chippewas football coaches Missouri State Bears football coaches