Chris Jans
Chris Jans (born April 12, 1969)
Current position: Head men’s basketball coach
Current team: Mississippi State Bulldogs
Current conference: Southeastern Conference (SEC)
Bowling Green record: 21-12 (.636)
New Mexico State record: 122-32 (.792)
Mississippi State record: 42-27 (.609)
Overall record^: 185-71 (.723)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 5 (2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024)
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
- CIT Appearances: 1 (2015)
- SEC Regular Season Champion: 0
- WAC Regular Season Champion: 4 (2018, 2019, 2020, 2022)
- SEC Tournament Champion: 0
- WAC Tournament Champion: 3 (2018, 2019, 2022)
- NJCAA Division II National Championships: 1 (1998)
- ICCAC (JC, Div II) Regular Season Champion: 2 (1997, 1998)
- Panhandle (JC, Div I) Regular Season Champion: 1 (2004)
Awards:
- Joe B. Hall Award: 1 (2015)
- WAC Coach of the Year: 3 (2018, 2019, 2020)
- NJCAA National Coach of the Year: 1 (1998)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 2022-present | Mississippi State |
| 2017-2022 | New Mexico State |
| 2015-2017 | Wichita State (special asst) |
| 2014-2015 | Bowling Green |
| 2007-2014 | Wichita State (asst) |
| 2004-2007 | Illinois State (asst) |
| 2003-2004 | Chipola JC |
| 2001-2003 | Howard JC |
| 1999-2001 | Idaho (asst) |
| 1998-1999 | Independence CC |
| 1996-1998 | Kirkwood CC |
| 1994-1996 | Grand View (asst) |
| 1991-1994 | Elmhurst (asst) |
Chris Jans Facts
- Christopher Paul Jans
- Born April 12, 1969
- Hometown: Fairbanks, Iowa
- Alma Mater: Loras College (BA, 1991)
- Played four seasons at Division III Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa
- Spent two seasons as the head coach at Kirkwood CC (IA), winning the NJCAA Division II National Championship in 1998
- Also coached at Independence CC (KS), Howard College (TX) and Chipola College (FL), all members of the NJCAA
- In between jobs, spent two years as an assistant at Idaho under head coach David Farrar
- Has a total head coaching record of 159-45 (.779) after six seasons as NJCAA head coach
- Was an assistant for Porter Moser for three seasons at Illinois State, then joined Gregg Marshall‘s Wichita State staff in 2007
- After seven years at WSU, hired in 2014 as the head coach at Bowling Green
- Won a school-record 21 games in his lone season, but was fired after being caught on video drunk and making inappropriate comments towards a woman in a bar
- Returned to Wichita for two more seasons as a special assistant to Marshall
- Jans was hired as the new head coach at NMSU in April 2017
- Led the Aggies to WAC regular season titles in four of his five years, winning two WAC COY awards and three NCAA Tournament berths (all by way of WAC Tournament titles); went 122-32 overall in five seasons at the helm
- Left NMSU in March 2022 to become the new head coach at Mississippi State
- Won 21 games in each of his first two seasons, earning back-to-back at-large NCAA Tournament bids
Chris Jans Coaching Tree
- Greg Heiar (New Mexico State, NW Florida State, Chipola JC)
- David Ragland (Evansville)
^ overall record includes head coaching positions at the NCAA Division I level only
