Chris Jans is the new men’s basketball coach at Bowling Green State University. Jans will have a six-year
contract at $325,000 a year with the Falcons.
He replaces Louis Orr, Bowling Green’s coach for the past seven years.
Jans was most recently the associate head men’s coach at Wichita State.
“Chris Jans is doing the things that we want to do at BGSU,” said Chris Kingston, Bowling Green’s
athletics director said. “He is a championship coach, a championship recruiter, and a championship
person. He is absolutely the right fit for Falcon men’s basketball.
‘‘He has the coaching expertise and personality to immediately ignite the players and fan base, as we
begin the new era of men’s basketball in the Stroh Center under his leadership.’’
A press conference is planned for noon on Tuesday in the upper concourse of the Stroh Center. The event
will be open to the general public.
“I am privileged and honored to be named the head men’s basketball coach at Bowling Green State
University,” commented Jans. “I look forward to competing for championships in the near future.”
The 16th head coach in Bowling Green men’s basketball history, Jans has more than 20 years of college
basketball coaching experience, including six seasons as a head coach.
As part of the coaching staff at Wichita State the last seven seasons, including serving as the associate
head coach since 2011-12, Jans has helped guide the Shockers to three straight NCAA appearances and
national prominence, including a No. 2 national ranking and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament this
season. This year Wichita State became the first team in NCAA history to start the season with 35
consecutive victories and finished 35-1.
With Jans on the sidelines, the Shockers have made six straight appearances in postseason play and have
won two Missouri Valley Conference regular season championships and one Missouri Valley Conference
tournament championship.
Jans has helped the Shockers win a record 146 games over the last five years. His coaching knowledge has
also helped the Shockers earn the reputation as one of the Missouri Valley Conference’s best defensive
teams since 2011.
Jans has also been an assistant coach at Illinois State for three seasons and two seasons at Idaho.
He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at NCAA Division III Elmhurst College in 1992. In
1994, he took a similar position at NAIA Grand View College before receiving his first head coaching
position at Kirkwood Community College in 1996.
Jans accumulated a 159-45 head coaching record and won a National Junior College Athletic Association
national championship at the age of 28.
He won the national championship in his third season with Kirkwood. Jans has also coached at Chipola
Junior College, Howard College, and Independence Community College.
Jans played at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, from 1987-1991, where he was a three-year starter and
captained the team his senior year. While there, he helped the team to a 47-25 record while breaking 16
scoring records and two NCAA Division III records for 3-point shooting. A 1991 graduate of Loras
College, he earned bachelor’s degrees in both marketing and finance.