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Report: Chris Jans linked to Wichita State opening after Shockers part ways with Isaac Brown

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•03/11/23•

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Mississippi State HC Chris Jans
Wesley Hitt | Getty Images

Wichita State has parted ways with head coach Isaac Brown, according to multiple reports. Not long after the news broke, an interesting name emerged as a possible candidate: Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans.

Stadium’s Jeff Goodman reported Jans could be “heavily in the mix” for the job shortly after he reported Wichita State’s decision to part ways with Brown. However, Goodman followed that tweet up with another saying sources told him neither Jans nor Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes would leave to go back to Wichita State. Both coaches served on the Shockers’ staff in the past.

Jans just wrapped up his first regular season as the Bulldogs’ head coach and is awaiting his team’s fate on Selection Sunday. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has MSU as one of the last four teams in the tournament field in his updated Bracketology.

But Wichita State is familiar territory for Jans. He worked on former coach Gregg Marshall’s staff from 2007-14 before leaving to become the head coach at Bowling Green.

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Bowling Green fired Jans in 2015 for violating a morals cause, and he returned to Wichita State from 2015-17 as a special assistant. After the 2017 season — the Shockers’ last in the Missouri Valley Conference — he took the head coach job at New Mexico State, where he totaled a 122-32 record and led the Aggies to three NCAA Tournaments. They had already sealed an automatic bid in 2020 before the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year at Mississippi State, Jans amassed a 21-12 record and an 8-10 mark in SEC play. The Bulldogs, like many teams, will now wait to see if they made the NCAA Tournament during Sunday’s selection show.

Wichita State promoted Brown to head coach in 2020 after firing Marshall, and the Shockers went to the NCAA Tournament in his first year at the helm. They went 15-13 in 2021-22 and finished with a 17-15 overall record this year, including a 9-9 mark in American Athletic Conference action to miss out on March Madness for the second consecutive season.