WATCH: Chris Jans Introductory Press Conference

STARKVILLE - Chris Jans, one of the nation's premier head coaches, was introduced as the 21st head men's basketball coach in Mississippi State history on Wednesday at the Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex.

Director of Athletics John Cohen
Opening Statement
"Good morning, we appreciate you being here. I know we had some rough weather yesterday, so I hope everyone stayed safe. I want to stay brief, but first there are several people I'd like to thank. I want to thank Leah Beasley, Bo Hemphill, Bracky Brett, Eric George and our office of general council including Joan Lucas and Brandon Jolly for their help in this process. As always, I want to thank our President Dr. Mark Keenum for his guidance and wisdom. Everyday I'm reminded of how fortunate we are to have Dr. Keenum at the helm here. He expresses his regrets he couldn't be here today because of his travel schedule, but I know he shares the excitement of this great day for Mississippi State and our Men's Basketball program. Finally, I want to thank our basketball student athletes, their families and our basketball staff and the Bulldog board committee for all their help and patience."

"There was a tremendous amount of interest in this position at Mississippi State. It was a highly sought-after position and that's a testament to our prestigious university, compassionate fanbase, outstanding student athletes and the seven years Ben Howland gave to our program. During this search, it was important for us to move quickly, but equally or more important for us to be thorough and comprehensive. That said, I'm confident we accomplished our objective and secured one of the premiere coaches in all of college basketball in Chris Jans."

"My friend Mario Moccia at New Mexico State, one of the most respected athletic directors in the country, was asked five years ago: "are you comfortable making this hire?" My answer is the same as Mario's, a resounding yes. Our research included conversations with student athletes and former staffers at Bowling Green, Wichita State, and New Mexico State, as well as college basketball experts and professionals around the country. During our comprehensive search, several things emerged about Coach Jans. His culture of accountability, his relationships with his players, his mentality of hard work and dedication, his tireless efforts in recruiting, his knowledge of the game of basketball inside and out, his versatility and ability to adapt, his emphasis on player development and his vision for the future. Coach Jans is a proven leader and a proven winner. He is considered by many experts to be one of the elite coaches in the entire country."

"His overall resume really speaks for itself. In 12 years as a head coach at the Division One and Junior College level, Coach Jans one 20 or more games in all but one season. He won a Junior College National Championship at Kirkwood in 1998. He helped build Wichita State into a powerhouse in the mid 2010's where they averaged 30 wins each of his last four seasons including a Final Four appearance and an unprecedented 35-0 start to a season. He coordinated one of the nation's best turnarounds in 2015 at Bowling Green where he took the Falcons, who had lost 20 games in 2014, to a record setting 21-12 overall mark and their first postseason win since 1975. That historic season was capped by him being chosen by his peers at the National Association of Basketball Coach's top first year coach and the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year Award. Coach Jans ushered in an unprecedented amount of success during his five years at New Mexico State, guiding his program to a 122-32 record highlighted by three NCAA tournament appearances in four years. It almost undoubtedly would have been four out of five years had COVID-19 not been a factor. Last but not least, Chris Jans has won 76.5 percent of his games at the Division One level. That percentage is fourth best winning percentage among active Coaches at the Division one level, only behind Gonzaga's Mark Few, Kansas' Bill Self and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski."

Chris Jans is ready to invest in the people of Mississippi. He's ready to invest into our program, he's ready to position our student athletes to compete for championships, and he's ready to bring a brand of basketball back to the Hump of which our fans will be proud. Perhaps the greatest achievement of Coach Jans' life was his marriage to Sheri. Sheri, I can't tell you how many fans you have scattered across the country and now I can tell its for very good reason. Welcome to the Mississippi State family. Now, please join me in welcoming the 21st Men's Basketball Coach at Mississippi State Coach Chris Jans."

Head Coach Chris Jans
Opening Statement
CJ: "Hail State! … I just want to say thanks John [Cohen] for the warm welcome. I appreciate it. Obviously, I'm glad to be here. I want to thank you folks – you took time out of your day to come and get to know me better. I appreciate that."

"This is an exciting day for my family and I. This is a dream opportunity for me. I've been coaching for 30 years. When I started this odyssey, I wanted to be at a place like Mississippi State. I can't lie to you. In small town Iowa, I didn't dream about being to Mississippi State. I didn't have a dream job. I just wanted to be somewhere where it was important, and we were on the biggest stage competing with and against the best players and coaches in college basketball. Obviously, in the SEC and at Mississippi State, we're going to get the opportunity to do that. I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to have that opportunity."

"Before I go any further, I want to make sure John [Cohen] and I are on the same page. I'm very uncomfortable when people introduce me. We have to agree this is the longest introduction you'll ever give me. If I had known you any better, I would've cut you off about halfway through."

"Prior to additional comments, I need to thank some folks. First and foremost, I'd like to thank the folks at NMSU [New Mexico State] particularly Garrey Carruthers, the former chancellor at New Mexico State who was the reason I was hired there. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here right now. Equally as important is my former AD Mario Moccia. I'm indebted for the rest of my life to Mario, his family and the executive team at New Mexico State that allowed me to be their basketball coach for the last five years. We certainly started as a supervisor-employee, but it grew to be a special relationship. Hopefully, he's watching. I just want to say a sincere thank you to all of the folks at New Mexico State, but especially Garrey Carruthers and Mario Moccia for what they've done for me and for my family."

"Obviously I've got to give a shoutout to Dr. Keenum. I had the opportunity to spend some time with him when I first arrived, and it was awesome. When you walk into a President's office and see the many shrines to athletics throughout his office, it makes you feel good as a coach that he's proud of the athletic programs at Mississippi State … You can get a feel through the way he talked and how proudly he presented areas of his office. That made me feel warm inside knowing the guy at the top know how important it is. He certainly made me aware of how important it was to beat the school up north and down the road a little bit too."

"You don't arrive at this position without a lot of help. There's not enough time to thank all the people that helped me get here. First and foremost, [I want to thank] all my former players. When you coach for as long as I have, you coach a lot of guys. I tell each and every one of them the same thing: "I'll be in your life for as long as you allow me to be." That was from day one. Fortunately, I'm still friends with a lot of them. We grew our relationship from player-coach to friends. I'm recruiting some of their sons now. That certainly makes you feel pretty old. That's the way it goes sometimes, the clock doesn't stop. I hope they feel good knowing that they had a big part in me being here. All of my former bosses, I moved around quite a bit. They all helped me get here. While I remember all of them, I can't name the litany of coaches and colleagues. You know who you are, and I certainly appreciate all you've done for me, so thank you."

"Lastly and most importantly is my family. This has been a journey for me and my family We've made mistakes along the way, but if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here either. They've loved me and helped me. I'm just so appreciative for not just my immediate family obviously, but my parents and siblings back in Fairbank, Iowa. I come from humble beginnings. I was born and raised in a trailer park, and I'm proud of it. I hope the people back in my hometown [are proud]. There wasn't a fast-food joint within ten minutes. We didn't have any stoplights, but I'm proud of where I come from. I love visiting my home community, it means a lot to me. I went to a high school with four roads, and two of them were gravel. Some of my best friends in the world are the people I grew up with. Hopefully, they're watching. Hopefully, they're proud of me and what we're doing."

"Obviously, I want to thank my wife, Sheri. As John [Cohen] mentioned, she's the best part of me. I'm so fortunate to have picked my life partner, recruited my life partner. Let's be honest, it took a lot, but it's the best recruiting job I've done in my entire life. It's not even close. Of course, [our children] Nick and Maddie, they were with us in Buffalo and are in the working world now. It was too much to ask for them to take more days off, but I know they're watching. All of they've ever done is to be there for me, love me and support me. I love you all, so thank you."

"I'm eager to lay the foundation off our program. Obviously, we've already started. There's a rich tradition of winning at Mississippi State. It goes back decades and decades. Some great coaches have walked through these halls and coached in our beautiful arena dating back all the way back to Babe McCarthy. Certainly, Richard Williams and his final four run. Rick Stansbury and all the [NCAA] tournaments he competed in and the winning he did as head coach at Mississippi State. Certainly, and most recently with Coach Howland. He and his staff need to be applauded for the quality of student-athletes that they brought to Mississippi State. I had the opportunity to meet these young men, and I couldn't be more impressed with the people that he had around him especially the players. I just want to say thank you to Coach [Howland] and his staff for having that vision."

"Obviously, people always are going to want to know how we play. That's the fun part for me, and the easier part for me. We're going to play with confidence. When we all out of the tunnel, we're going to have a swagger about us. We're going to believe in each other, and we're going to play for each other. We're never going to step on the floor without a chip on our shoulder, and we're never going to look down at the other bench or the other half of the court as we're warming up and fear anybody. We're certainly going to respect our opponents, but we're going to be very prepared. We're going to treat every game like the Super Bowl, that's how I was raised in basketball. We're going to compete each and every night. We've got to recruit our sixth man. I know we have an unbelievable following. I've been reached out to by many Bulldog fans, and it's exciting. Obviously, we've got to have a sixth man in The Hump. We want to get The Hump rocking. I'm excited about the renovations coming around the corner that will make the fan experience and the game experience even better."

"We're going to be very active in the Starkville community. I can't wait to meet the folks in this beautiful community and certainly on campus. It starts with me. We're going to build relationships with people, and we're going to build them one-by-one. We're going to active on campus. We're going meet the Greek system and recruit those folks to get the excited. We're going to work with our marketing staff to create a gameday experience and certainly one of my biggest responsibilities is the product we put on the floor. Win or lose, certainly we want to win every game, we want our fans and our people to be excited about how we're playing. We want them to be excited about our compete level. We never want our fans to leave the Hump kicking the can and moaning under their breathe about lack of effort or lack of us being prepared. That's important to me. It's important to me that the people that come and pay their money to watch us play know that we're prepared and know that we believed that we were going to win that game. Again, I'm not going to promise we win every game, but I will promise that we're going to play very hard. We're going to play smart, and we're going to leave everything on the floor each and every time we get the opportunity to put on the Bulldog uniform and compete with whoever we're going to compete against."

"I mentioned the players, that's the priority here. It's going to be the priority from day one. When I landed, other than seeing Dr. Keenum, that was the first thing that I needed to do. We organized a meeting and got to briefly lay a foundation and expectation that will be required around here. They were great. I met with half of them yesterday morning and was scheduled to meet the rest of them yesterday afternoon, but we were exposed to the Starkville weather. We had to postpone those meetings, but as soon as I'm done here today, I'll get to meet the rest of the team and get to know them better. That's what I've asked of them. I understand the landscape of college basketball right now with the transfer portal. It's different. We're giving everybody time and space to figure that out. All that I've asked them is that they give me a chance to get to know me and see if your vision for your future aligns with how we do things around here. If you don't think this is the place for you, we'll shake hands and I'll help you in any way that I can. I think that's how it's going to be in college basketball."

"We're going to try and recruit the best and brightest that we can get. We're going to compete on the recruiting trail at the highest level. Obviously, in the league that we're playing in, coaches are confident. I'm confident, but it's about the players. We're going to give them a first-class experience, and we're going to arm them with a first-class education at Mississippi State. We're going to equip them with life skills while we try to win championships, raise banners and cut down nets. The older I get, the more important it is to me to make sure that when our players leave, they're in a better place to handle what's thrown at them out in this world. It means a lot to me. We're going to do that from day one, and we've already started. We're still working on staff. I've got a situation back at New Mexico State where my associate head coach James Miller is one of the finest coaches in America is involved with the job. I'm not doing anything until that situation is resolved."

"In closing, I just want to make sure everyone knows that I'm thrilled to be the head coach at Mississippi State. It means the world to me. I'm going to handle it with care. I'm going to work tirelessly at my job to ensure that all of you are proud of this program. We're going to do our best like I said earlier to win championships, raise banners and cut down nets. I appreciate all of you being here. Go Bulldogs!"

Q: How do you think the meeting with the players went, and how would you assess their attitudes towards staying with the program?
CJ: "What you'll find about me is that I don't speak for my players. But from my perspective, I thought it went well. I've been a head coach; this is my seventh go around. This isn't my first rodeo with meeting a new team and trying to build relationships in a quick timeframe. It's an ongoing process."

"The first one was more of a meet-and-greet. Now, it's about getting underneath individual situations that they're all in, and we'll continue. Back in the day, you would land, get a rental car, get a credit card and then you would get on the road. For me, the most important recruits that I have right now are the ones that are here. We've got to do our best to retain these young men who have poured their heart and their soul into the program. Hopefully, like I said, they're going to give me some time to build a relationship with them before they make their ultimate decision. That's what we're working on right now."

Q: With this program, how quickly do you think you can get Mississippi State back in the NCAA Tournament?
CJ: "The goal is to be in the [NCAA] tournament next year. With me, you're not going to hear me talking about building a program. In this day and age of transferring and the portal, it's just the landscape of college basketball. I just don't think that (building a program) is the way it's going to be done anymore. You're going to have to build a team each and every year."

"With my junior college background, that's what I've done for the majority of my career. So, I'm comfortable in this phase. I'm comfortable at bringing in and building bigger classes because like I said, that's what we've done for the most part in my whole career."

"I think it's been proven around the country that you can turn your fortunes around in a hurry. So, we're not going to shy away from our goals. We want to be a perennial NCAA Tournament, March Madness teams. Whether it's an automatic bid or an at-large bid, that's going to be one of our goals each and every season. It's certainly a goal heading into next year, as well.

Q: What do you think the most impressive part of your coaching style is that might change this program at Mississippi State?
CJ: "I'm not sure impressive is the right word, but I think people will enjoy the compete level of our kids. That's important to me. You're playing this game that you've put so much time and effort into. Most of these young people have worked their tail off, and this is a dream come true for them to play at a school like Mississippi State. They all have dreams of being professionals. Our job is to help them turn their dreams into reality."

"On game night, when all eyes are on you and it means so much to so many, how would you not give your best effort? That's going to be something that we pride ourselves on. That's going to be an important part of our culture. You do that by just being an everyday guy. Just being frank with you, our practice gym won't be 75 and sunny every day. We have high expectations and high standards for our work level and how we go about and do our business. It's not a light switch. You can't walk into game day, turn it on and expect to play at a certain level. You've got to build that up over time."

"That's what I've learned through the years, and that's going to be our focus. We're going to be everyday guys. Then, when the game comes, certainly your adrenaline and all that stuff kicks in. But I think you have the ability to play at a higher level at that stage. I want people to be impressed by how hard our kids play, and how well we compete. What's equally important is how well we play with each other."

Q: How big of a key is the new look of Humphrey Coliseum for you and the team this season?
CJ: "When my wife and I walked on the floor for the first time, I got chill bumps. I was told by colleagues that had played in The Hump from visiting teams that it was one of their favorite venues in the SEC. Certainly, I was excited when I heard that from people I trust and respect. When I walked out from underneath it like I would on gameday, I just had a bunch of emotions run over my body. Obviously, that's going to be my perspective for the most part standing at that level. It just felt good, and it just felt right."

"I love the verticality of the seats. There doesn't seem like there's a bad seat in the house. With the premium seating on the way, renovations in the concourse area and fan experience, it's going to be even better. It's got to be loud in there. I've heard it is, and I can't wait to feel it myself. But certainly, trying to keep up with the Jones' is always a part of college athletics at this level. It was awesome to know that this is the direction we're going in."

Q: You had success in the junior college ranks where you only had players for a year or two at a time. Does that give you an advantage in this era of the transfer portal?
CJ: "I hope so, and we'll find out. I love junior college basketball, I cut my teeth in junior college basketball. Some people look down their nose at junior college basketball, probably because they've never been there. I was able to learn and make mistakes without the bright lights and big platforms as a young coach. It's a part of my journey."

"My blueprint is probably not one that young coaches look at me and say "Yeah, I want to follow his path". Where I've been and how many times I've moved and the places I've lived, there's plenty of other blueprints out there. But it's mine, and I love it. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I've learned so much from so many. Because I've bounced around, I've been exposed to so many different ways of doing things on the court and off the court. I have pockets of people all across the globe now because of going different places back and forth across the country."

"I'm a proud JUCO [junior college] guy. If you look across the country, there's a lot of former junior college coaches that are having a lot more success than I'm having. Certainly, they've been inspirations to me. I truly believe at the end of the day that the experience of bringing in larger classes, and that experience of having to build teams on the fly and not having to wait some time for them to develop is going to help me. We're not shying away from the goals of winning right away. I've already addressed that. With the landscape of college basketball, that's why I think it could happen."

Mississippi State University Athletics

WATCH: Chris Jans Introductory Press Conference

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