It’s been a long road for Chris Jans, who has started a new chapter in his life by accepting the position
as the head men’s basketball coach at Bowling Green State University.
Jans was officially introduced as the Falcons’ 16th head coach Tuesday afternoon.
“My responsibility is to win championships here. That’s all I’ve ever done,” Jans said during his press
conference. “I can’t promise you when it’s going to happen, but it’s going to happen. “I can’t wait for
the day when we are celebrating wins, and singing Ay Ziggy Zoomba.’’
Jans received a six-year contact at $325,000 per year.
“The more research I did, the more excited I became about the opportunity here at Bowling Green State
University,” Jans said. “This is the right place for me, it’s the right time for me, and I’m going to
work my tail off to make everybody proud of this program.
“It’s a gold mine. There is an infrastructure in place. It’s got great leaders. You have got, obviously,
a beautiful facility, to play (in),’’ he added. “One of my responsibilities is going to bring the
Anderson (Arena) Roar to the Stroh Center. We’re going to do that by being interactive in the community,
myself, my staff, and my family … I look forward to being the face of the men’s basketball program.’’

Jans said he was excited about getting started rebuilding the Falcons, whose last winning record was a
19-14 mark in the 2008-09 season.
“We are going to build this program the only way I know how to do it, and that’s with hard work,’’ Jans
said. “I believe that you usually get what you deserve, especially in athletics. So if you are willing
to work hard, sacrifice and be a part of something bigger than yourself, the sky is the limit for this
place.’’

Chris Kingston, BG’s athletics director, moved quickly to hire Jans after Louis Orr, BG’s head coach for
the last seven years, was not offered a new contract.
Kingston said when he laid out the qualities, qualifications, characteristics of the new head coach some
of the areas he considered were: experience as a successful head coach in college; a coach who is
concerned with academics, and graduates his players; a relentless recruiter; a coach who has won
championships; and someone who understands how special Bowling Green State University is and wants to be
here.
“So as I laid those out, what I found was I simply wrote Chris Jans’ (biography) without putting his name
on it,’’ Kingston said. “Simply put, he’s doing what we want to do. On paper, I identified Chris very
early on, and when we sat down … he confirmed what I thought I knew.
‘‘He blew me away with his energy, his expertise, and his drive for excellence,’’ Kingston continued. “I
know that Falcon Nation is ready for the Chris Jans era, but I’m not sure that anybody else actually
realizes what is about to happen here at BGSU.”
Jans has held coaching positions at nine different colleges since the 1992-93 season. From 2007-14, he
was an assistant at Wichita State, most recently as the associate head coach.
“You can’t start in this profession any lower than I started. I was a volunteer assistant at a Division
III school in 1992,” Jans said.
Jans met with the returning players Monday night. Among those expected to return are seniors Richaun
Holmes, Jehvon Clarke, and Anthony Henderson, and redshirt junior Chauncey Orr, the son of the former BG
head coach.

“I don’t know much about them … (Monday) on the plane, I spent a little bit of time looking at the
roster and watching some of the video and I felt like it was Christmas morning when I opened my laptop
and starting trying to figure out who I was inheriting,’’ Jans said. “My first impression when I met
those young men last night in the classroom was a positive one. They were focused. They were attentive.
They had good body language, and that excited me.”
Jans said he has some things to take care of in Kansas, but when he returns to Bowling Green, he’ll start
the rebuild of the program.
The Falcons have signed one player for next season — Bernard Edwards Jr., a point-guard from Lehigh High
School in Lehigh Acres, Fla.
Jans said he will have two more scholarships to use for next season.
“It will make or break our season in my opinion,’’ Jans said about filling the additional scholarships.
“We have got to add to the mix. I’ll figure out exactly what I think we’ll need. We’ll target a number
of individuals, and get the best one that we can find.’’
Jans is also in the process of hiring his staff.
“Nobody understands how important assistant coaches are to the program, more than me. I’ve been doing it
for a long time and it’s vital for us,’’ Jans said.