Jason Groves

Las Cruces Sun-News

LAS CRUCES — Chris Jans certainly didn’t win the press conference, but that rarely matters in college athletics once the games start.

New Mexico State introduced Jans, 48, as the 26th New Mexico State men’s basketball coach on Monday evening at the Pan American Center.

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Jans has been described as a quality coach with a questionable past. He was fired from Bowling Green in 2015 after a 21-12 season in his only year as a Division I head coach based on inappropriate conduct involving two women in a Bowling Green bar in March of 2015.

To his credit, Jans owned those concerns on Monday with his wife, Sheri, in attendance.

“I knew they (New Mexico State) were going to be vetting me," Jans said. "I knew they would be doing their due diligence when you are coming off of something like that. I felt good about what I've been doing since then. I felt confident about how I have reacted to the incident in every phase of my life."

NMSU’s student enrollment was 54.3 percent female (8,069 students) in the 2016 fall semester. The It’s on Us campaign, a national awareness campaign that seeks to end sexual assault on college campuses, was coincidentally holding an event on campus Monday afternoon.

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“I took a huge financial and professional hit and more importantly, embarrassed myself and my reputation," said Jans, who will make $250,000 in the first year of his four-year contract after making $325,000 in his one season at Bowling Green. "I have done things to improve myself. I wasn't pointing fingers and I tried to turn a negative into a positive and act in a way that people are proud of. I can't take it back. It is going be part of my history for the rest of my life and I understand that and I think I'm strong enough to shoulder that.

"I would ask them and everyone else for that matter to give me a chance and prove that was a complete aberration. I'm a better person today because of it."

According to the termination letter issued to Jans from Bowling Green in 2015, the former head coach was intoxicated and approached a woman who had a relationship with a member of the basketball staff. Jans admitted to touching the woman’s head and moving her head toward his body.

Jans then approached a second woman whom he did not know and, according to the letter, “admitted that during your conversation with this woman, you patted her buttocks at least once. … This conduct occurred at the bar in full view of the public who was a University alumnus and parent and his family.”

Jans was confronted by another woman at the bar who had witnessed Jans’ behavior and told him he was behaving badly for a head coach. Upon the woman’s return to her table, Jans called the woman a “bitch” according to the termination letter.

Jans was driven home and later publicly apologized both for his use of alcohol and public behavior.

“There are consequences for your actions and I paid them and continue to pay them and will pay them for the rest of my life," Jans said. "I can learn and grow from it and make sure it never happens again. That's what I'm doing and that's what I've done."

Lauri Millot, NMSU executive director of the Office of Institutional Equity and Title XI coordinator, walked across campus from the It's on Us event for Jans’ press conference at the Barbara Hubbard room.

“I was concerned when I first heard about Coach Jans as a candidate, but the more I learned in terms of the vetting process, I was feeling more confident," Millot said. "This is a reality check for everyone as to what consequences are for inappropriate behavior. This was not a sexual assault. As far as I'm concerned, he (Jans) can help this process. He can say that nobody is above being held accountable for inappropriate behavior and this campus as well as every other one should be taking it seriously."

Moccia, who spent eight years in the Missouri Valley Conference as the Southern Illinois athletics director, said those contacts served him well during the vetting process.

"I thought it was incumbent upon me to speak to every single person involved in basketball and employment in the past 10 years," Moccia said.

Among the coaches and administrators Moccia cited was current Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall, who brought Jans back in 2015 as a special assistant and elevated him to associate head coach last week. It was Jans’ second stint at Wichita State after serving on Marshall’s staff from 2007-14 before taking the Bowling Green head job.

Moccia said he also spoke with former Bowling Green Athletic Director Chris Kingston and current President Mary Ellen Mazey, both of whom supported Jans' hire.

But it was Creighton Athletic Director and Men's Basketball Committee Chairman Bruce Rasmussen, who confirmed that Creighton basketball coach Greg McDermott pursued Jans for an assistant coach this off-season, whose support spoke volumes to Moccia.

“He (Rasmussen) talked to me and texted me that this is the guy," Moccia said. "I was convinced, not just after hearing from everyone else but hearing (Jans) speak. He was unbelievably honest and forthcoming.

"I get that everyone isn't into second chances. I am."

Sports Editor Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.