Coastal Carolina finalizing deal to hire Missouri State's Ryan Beard

Coastal Carolina is finalizing a deal to hire Missouri State’s Ryan Beard as its next head coach, sources tell On3. In his only season as a head coach at the FBS level, Beard has the Bears playing in their first-ever FBS bowl on Dec. 18 against Arkansas State in the Xbox Bowl.

The 36-year-old head coach is 19-16 as a Division I head coach and has found ways to win this year in his first season at the FBS level. The Bears finished 2025 with a 5-3 mark in their first season in Conference USA.

Coastal Carolina fired head coach Tim Beck following a 59-10 loss to James Madison, ending the regular season at 6-6. Beck went 20-18 at Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers were 8-5 in his first season before going 6-7 in 2024.

Coastal Carolina athletic director Chance Miller is in his second year and did not hire Beck, taking over ahead of the 2024 season. He was previously the deputy athletic director at South Carolina.

Beard was previously an assistant at Louisville and Central Michigan. He was the Missouri State defensive coordinator under Bobby Petrino for three years before taking the head coaching job. A former Western Kentucky defensive back, Beard’s first defense at Missouri State set the school record for single-season sacks and reached the FCS playoffs for the first time in 30 years.

Beck arrived at Coastal Carolina following Jamey Chadwell’s departure to Liberty. Chadwell was 31-6 in his final three seasons in Conway. In 2020, Coastal Carolina started 11-0 — including a high-profile victory over BYU — and rose to the top 10 in the AP poll. Chadwell won 11 national coach of the year honors that year.