Beck played one year of football at UCF and graduated from there in 1988 with a degree in liberal studies.
Coaching career
Beck began his football coaching career as an assistant coach in 1988 at Miramar High School in Miramar, Florida. After two seasons, Beck advanced to the college coaching ranks by taking a position as outside linebackers coach and punters coach for the Illinois State Redbirds. Just one year later, Beck moved to his first position at a Big 12 Conference school when he was brought into the Kansas State program as a graduate assistant by Wildcatshead coachBill Snyder. It was at Kansas State that Beck first worked with future Nebraska colleague Carl Pelini. Following his two years at Kansas State, Beck assumed his first head coaching position in a return to the high school ranks, when he was appointed to lead the Sabercats of Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Sabercats had struggled for some time prior to his arrival, its record only 5–43 in the previous five years. In his third year at Saguaro, Beck led the Sabercats football team to the 1995 Arizona divisional state championship title, the first ever in the school's entire 30-year history, while assembling a 20–15 record during his tenure. With his first head coaching title realized, Beck returned to the college coaching ranks in 1996 by accepting an assistant coaching position at Missouri State, and was promoted to Offensive Coordinator for the 1998 season. In his one year as MSU's offensive coordinator, the Bears amassed 4,542 all-purpose offensive yards, the fourth-highest mark in the university's 91-year history. The position of head coach called Beck back to the high school ranks in 1999 when he was hired to lead the R. L. Turner High School Lions in Carrollton, Texas, where he led the school to its first consecutive winning seasons and playoff appearances in 25 years, being named the district's coach of the year in 2000. Beck was then appointed to the top position at Mansfield Summit High School in Mansfield, Texas in 2002, where he was named their district coach of the year in his second season. Improving on the 2003 recognition, Beck led the Jaguars to the 2004 Texas state playoff quarterfinals and a 9–4 record, finishing the season with the highest rated defense in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area.
Kansas
In 2005, Beck returned to the college football coaching arena by accepting the position of wide receivers coach at the University of Kansas. The Jayhawks had been struggling for consistency, posting no conference wins in 2002, losing the bowl game in their 6–7 campaign of 2003, and missing bowl eligibility in the 4–7 season of 2004. Beck's receivers helped the 2005 Kansas team to a 7–5 record and their first bowl win since 1995. In 2006, four different Jayhawks receivers caught 24 or more passes, though the 6–6 team was not extended a bowl invitation. In 2007 Beck was also appointed as the Passing Game Coordinator at Kansas, and the season proved to be a breakthrough year for the Jayhawks. Kansas finished 12–1 with the second-best scoring offense nationally, shared the Big 12 Conference North division title with Missouri, and secured a final #7 ranking in both the AP and Coaches polls with their 24–21 win over #5 Virginia Tech in the 2008 Orange Bowl.
Nebraska
When Bo Pelini was named as Nebraska's 32nd head football coach for the program's turnaround 2008 season, Beck accepted the position of running backs coach for the Cornhuskers. In his first season, the Cornhuskers averaged 169.8 running yards per game, with three of the team's running backs amassing over 450 yards on the year and placing Nebraska as the leading ground yardage team of the conference's north division. 2009 saw the average fall slightly to 147.1 running yards per game, but thanks in part to Nebraska's effective defensive game this was still enough to outgain all but three of the season's opponents on the ground. Running back Roy Helu, Jr. recorded 1,147 yards on the year, while two Cornhusker true freshman backs secured a pair of touchdowns each for the first time since 1993. Nebraska's 2010 ground offense was revitalized further by the emergence of redshirt freshman quarterback Taylor Martinez, who almost became just the third freshman quarterback in NCAA history to record over 1,000 yards on the ground, rushing for 965 yards. The 451 yards accumulated against Kansas State was Nebraska's highest total in 109 games. Following Nebraska's offensive performance issues in 2010, Pelini replaced offensive coordinator Shawn Watson by promoting Beck to the top offensive spot. Beck also assumed responsibility for coaching the quarterbacks.
On January 3, 2017, it was announced that Beck would be leaving Ohio State to take over as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Texas and new head coach Tom Herman. On December 1, 2019, after a disappointing 7–5 regular season, Herman announced that Beck would be demoted from offensive coordinator, but would remain with the team as the quarterbacks coach for their bowl game.
NC State
On January 1, 2020, it was announced that Beck would become the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for North Carolina State.
