Arkansas has to be happy with how their men’s basketball coaching search went, pulling John Calipari away from Kentucky. A staple inside the SEC for years now, Calipari is taking over for Eric Musselman after he left in favor of the USC job. You can feel the energy inside the program now with fans being excited for the new chapter.
Hunter Yurcheck still interviewed multiple people before ultimately landing Calipari. A report stated Mississippi State‘s Chris Jans was one of them.
Jans had the opportunity to comment on the report for the first time on Wednesday, telling people out there to not believe everything put out there. There was no direct response from Jans about being linked to Arkansas during their process.
“I think all of us know at this point in our lives that we shouldn’t believe everything we read on social media,” Jans said. “I would say, regardless of the question, that would be my first comment about that. And that’s all I’m going to say.”
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette was the one to report the news back in early April. Jans reportedly interviewed the same day as Arkansas-Little Rock head coach Darrell Walker. This was after the Razorbacks attempted to hire Ole Miss’ Chris Beard and Jerome Tang from Kansas State.
While Jans did not directly dispute the report, everyone involved in the situation has to feel good about how things turned out. Jans gets to continue on at Mississippi State while Arkansas made a splashy hire with Calipari.
Chris Jans hoping to continue success with Mississippi State
Jans has been in the SEC for just two seasons but has already been linked to some job openings and will likely continue to be. After six years of head coaching experience at the mid-major level, Jans has excelled in his first taste of a power conference.
Mississippi State has made the NCAA Tournament in both years under Jans, something the program had not done since 2008 and 2009. Three straight postseason appearances would go back even further, breaking a decade-long drought of the accomplishment.
Winning games in the SEC is only going to get harder with the league expanding next season. Jans is hoping to keep the consistency at Mississippi State and continue to be a competitive program.
While his name will surely be linked with future job openings, he seems content in Starkville for the time being.
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