Mississippi State Bulldogs to hire Chris Jans as new men's basketball coach, sources say

Mississippi State is expected to hire New Mexico State coach Chris Jans as the school's next men's basketball coach, sources told ESPN. There's strong mutual interest, and a deal is expected to be finalized in the near future.

Jans led New Mexico State to an upset of fifth-seeded UConn in the first round of the NCAA tournament last week, marking the school's first NCAA tournament win since 1970. Jans has gone 122-32 in five seasons at New Mexico State, which includes four regular-season WAC championships and three NCAA tournament appearances.

Jans will replace Ben Howland, whom the Bulldogs separated from after he failed to win an NCAA tournament game in his seven seasons and had a 134-98 record in Starkville. Mississippi State last won an NCAA tournament game in 2008, and the deliberate pace of Howland's teams and his defensive-first style had begun to fall out of favor in the program.

Jans, 52, has been a Division I coach for six seasons, and he has gone 143-44 over five years in Las Cruces and one at Bowling Green. That puts his winning percentage just under 77%, ranking him among the top five in all of college basketball in that category among active coaches.

State officials also saw Jans' work first-hand, as New Mexico State beat Mississippi State 58-52 in Jackson, Mississippi, in December of 2019. They exhibited the same type of verve and fearlessness that hallmarked the UConn upset and a stout defensive performance in a 53-48 loss to Arkansas in the second round of the tournament on Saturday.

An off-court incident led to Jans' firing from Bowling Green in April of 2015. An email to the school detailed Jans' inappropriate behavior at a bar that March, which included video of Jans touching a woman's buttocks.