Mississippi State, Chris Jans sign extension through 2027-28 season

In his two seasons at Mississippi State, head coach Chris Jans has found plenty of success. Now, the school is rewarding him with a contract extension.

According to Pete Thamel, Chris Jans has signed a contract extension through the 2027-28 season. Along with that, his base salary is going up to $4.2 million annually starting in 2024-25. That’s up from $3.2 million. On top of that, the extension includes an annual increase as well as performance-based incentives.

Prior to coaching at Mississippi State, Chris Jans was the head coach at New Mexico State and Bowling Green. He also spent time in the JUCO ranks. It was with New Mexico State where Jans took the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament three different times. That included going to the Round of 32 the year before he came to Starkville.

Chris Jans took over as the head coach at Mississippi State ahead of the 2022-23 season. That year, he led the Bulldogs to a 21-13 record during the regular season. That was good enough to make the NCAA Tournament, where Jans led the Bulldogs to the First Four. He followed that up with another 21-win season and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, going to the Round of 64.

He has had that success in an incredibly difficult conference to compete in. With that, for two straight seasons, Chris Jans has led Mississippi State to consecutive 8-10 records and ninth place finishes in SEC play. The 2024 SEC Tournament also saw the Bulldogs win two games in the SEC Tournament before losing to the eventual conference tournament champion Auburn.

The recruiting class for the 2024 cycle that Chris Jans is putting together is ranked 58th in the country, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. The Bulldogs are adding two players from that class, a four-star recruit and a three-star recruit.

On top of that, Chris Jans has been active in the Transfer Portal. There, the Bulldogs have the seventh-ranked transfer class, according to the On3 College Basketball Team Transfer Portal Rankings. That’s a class that has seen Jans add six new players to the program. That includes players like Riley Kugel and RJ Melendez from fellow SEC schools Florida and Georgia. In total, five of the transfers coming into Mississippi State are coming from power conference schools.

Now, moving forward, Chris Jans and Mississippi State are looking to take the next step forward and make a deep NCAA Tournament run moving forward.