Head Coach Kyle Beard enters his fourth season at the helm of the Valor Men's Soccer in the 2025 season.
Beard has turned the Valor Men's Soccer program around, earning their first winning season in the EU era history and for the 2nd consecutive year earned the highest winning percentage in a single season in Evangel history in 2024, going 8-4-6 which places them for the most wins in program history in a single year.
No stranger to the NAIA, Beard brought his reputation as a builder of programs to Evangel, after successfully breathing life into soccer programs at three different institutions over his first 12 years as a collegiate coach. His ability to inspire student-athletes to reach their full potential, on and off the field, has produced notable success stories at each of his coaching stops.
Beard came to Evangel from Texas A&M University-San Antonio, where he implemented his expertise as a program-builder in helping start the University's men's soccer program during the end of the COVID pandemic.
Prior to taking the reins at TAMUSA, Beard piloted a remarkable turnaround of the men's soccer program at Faulkner University during his eight seasons as head coach. Facing one of the toughest conference schedules in the nation, Beard led the Eagles to unprecedented heights, including four-consecutive trips to the postseason. From 2016-19, Faulkner placed 20 student-athletes on All-Southern States Athletic Conference teams, as the Eagles claimed at least nine victories in three-consecutive seasons, including a program-best 10-6 campaign in 2017.
In all, Beard-led teams accounted for 69-percent of the program's all-time win total and 89-percent of Faulkner's total victories in conference play.
Beard began his coaching career at the club level in Texas. After leading club, high school and semi-professional programs for nearly a decade, he moved his family to Rwanda to work as a coach with the Rwandan Football Federation in 2006. He spent four years as the head coach of the Women's National Team, the director for the first Youth Futsal league in Rwanda and as an advisor for the Men's Under-17 and Under-20 National Teams.
While serving in Rwanda, Beard and his wife, Luz, helped plant one of the first evangelical churches in the nation since the conclusion of the Rwandan Civil War in the mid-1990's, the mission of which he has continued to support to the present day. Â
Beard made his initial venture into collegiate coaching in 2009, after returning to the United States as the founding head coach of the men's soccer program at Lubbock Christian University. He led LCU to an overall record of 31-16-8 in three seasons and took the Chaps to the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) Tournament in back-to-back seasons. In 2011, LCU compiled a 14-4-3 season mark and finished as the SAC regular-season runner-up, before advancing to the SAC Tournament Championship game, holding the most wins in a season by an LCU soccer team. His LCU players earned numerous individual honors, including NAIA All-America, SAC Player of Year, SAC Offensive Player of the Year, SAC Newcomer of the Year and a total of 10 All-SAC awards.
A native of Tyler, Texas, Beard earned a bachelor's degree from Lubbock Christian in 2000. He continued his education by studying conflict resolution, strategic management, and leadership.
Additionally, he holds coaching licenses and diplomas from the United States Soccer Federation, United Soccer Coaches, Rwanda Football Association, International Coaches Association and the Football Association of England.
Beard and his wife Luz have a son, Koen (EU grad/men’s soccer) who is married to Adysen (Harris) (EU ‘ 22), and a daughter, Heaven (EU Women’s Soccer ’22).Â
