Ryan Beard
Ryan Beard went 21–21 as a head coach, 2023–2026, at Missouri State and Coastal Carolina. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 2–4); by them his record is 21–20. Share
Two seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 2023–24 at Missouri State (on file under another coach). They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 21–21 career
- Seasons
- 4
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Alma mater
- Western Kentucky
- Best season
- 2025 7–6
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Missouri State * | 4–7 | 9th | |||
| 2024 | Missouri State * | 8–4 | T–4th | |||
| 2025 | Missouri State | 7–5 | T–4th | Xbox (not coached) | ||
| 2026 | Coastal Carolina | 2–5 (Wikipedia: 2–4) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against rivals | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Conference games | 11 | 6–5 | 55% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 12 | 6–6 | 50% |
| At home | 10 | 4–6 | 40% |
| On the road | 9 | 5–4 | 56% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 9 | 5–4 | 56% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 10 | 4–6 | 40% |
His own 19 games on file, 2025–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Marshallseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Libertyseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| New Mexico Stateseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Florida Internationalseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Fordhamseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Middle Tennesseeseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| UT Martinseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| UTEPseries | 1 | 1–0 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012–13 | Western Kentucky | Defensive graduate assistant | |
| 2014 | Louisville | Defensive quality control coach | |
| 2015 | Northern Michigan | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2016 | Western Kentucky | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2017–18 | Louisville | Assistant coach | |
| 2019 | Central Michigan | Special teams and safeties coach | |
| 2020–22 | Missouri State | Defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| 2023–25 | Missouri State | Head coach | |
| 2026–present | Coastal Carolina | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Lance GuidryWestern Kentucky
- Willie TaggartWestern Kentucky
- Bobby PetrinoWestern Kentucky, Louisville, Missouri State
- Chris OstrowskyNorthern Michigan
- Nick HoltWestern Kentucky
- Jeff BrohmWestern Kentucky
- Lorenzo WardLouisville
- Jim McElwainCentral Michigan
Assistants who became head coaches
- Nick PetrinoMissouri State
Worked under (8)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lance Guidry | Western Kentucky | 2012 | Defensive graduate assistant | |
| Willie Taggart | Western Kentucky | 2012 | Defensive graduate assistant | |
| Bobby Petrino | Western Kentucky | 2013 | Defensive graduate assistant | |
| Bobby Petrino | Louisville | 2014–18 | 2014: defensive quality control coach; 2017–18: assistant coach | |
| Chris Ostrowsky | Northern Michigan | 2015 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Nick Holt | Western Kentucky | 2016 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Jeff Brohm | Western Kentucky | 2016 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Lorenzo Ward | Louisville | 2018 | Assistant coach | |
| Jim McElwain | Central Michigan | 2019 | Special teams and safeties coach | |
| Bobby Petrino | Missouri State | 2020–22 | Defensive coordinator and safeties coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (1)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Petrino | Missouri State, 2023–25: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; Coastal Carolina, 2026: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Missouri State |
Other assistants under him (1)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| L.D. Scott | Missouri State, 2025: defensive coordinator; Coastal Carolina, 2026: defensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
How he coached
Beard’s teams went for it on 17% of fourth downs and on 34% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 55% of plays and took 27.3 seconds a play, 2025–2026.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 13 g | Missouri State | 13 of 92 14% | 26% | 58% | 27.9 | +0.09 | |
| 2026 7 g | Coastal Carolina | 12 of 53 23% | 48% | 50% | 26.3 | +0.04 | |
| All 20 g | 25 of 145 17% | 34% | 55% | 27.3 | +0.07 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.