Report: Mississippi State tabs New Mexico State's Chris Jans as new basketball coach

The Mississippi State Bulldogs are finalizing a deal to make New Mexico State's Chris Jans their new men's basketball coach, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.

Jans, 52, spent five seasons with the New Mexico State Aggies and led the program to four regular season WAC titles and three WAC Tournament titles. On Thursday, the 12-seed Aggies pulled off one of the upsets of the 2022 NCAA Tournament by beating 5-seed Connecticut, 70-63. Two days later, New Mexico State lost 53-48 against 4-seed Arkansas.

In Starkville, Miss., Jans will take over a program that hasn't won an NCAA Tournament game since 2008. Ben Howland led the team to a 134-98 record in seven seasons, but the Bulldogs' only trip to the tournament ended with a 80-76 loss to 12-seed Liberty in the first round in 2019.

Last season, Mississippi State was 10-3 by the end of 2021, but ended the regular season by losing nine of its last 13 games. The Bulldogs were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament and the first round of the NIT Tournament.

Jans leaves New Mexico State with a 122-32 record over five seasons.