New Mexico State Basketball: Aggies finally get stability with commitment to Chris Jans

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 10: Head coach Chris Jans of the New Mexico State Aggies hold up the net after defeating the Grand Canyon Lopes 72-58 in the championship game of the Western Athletic Conference basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 10, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images) /

New Mexico State Basketball had another successful season recently. With Chris Jans likely sticking around for a while, the Aggies might finally get that stability they’ve wanted.

One of the best mid-major programs in the country is New Mexico State Basketball, which just went to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in nine years after defeating Grand Canyon in the WAC title game.

What has been so impressive about the Aggies as of late has been that there has been a different conductor the last few years. After nine seasons, Marvin Menzies left the program to go to UNLV in 2016. Longtime Aggies assistant Paul Weir was elevated to take his place for just one year before leaving himself to rival New Mexico of all places.

Last season New Mexico State went to another great mid-major team for a new coach in Chris Jans from Wichita State. He certainly inherited a talented roster in year one but his coaching acumen allowed the team to survive a much tougher WAC than anticipated.

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But the question right after the season was going to be how much longer Jans would remain with the program? New Mexico State is a program that doesn’t have a ton of finances to work with even as a mid-major school, so there’s a limit as to what they can do. That has to be on a coach’s mind in whether they want to stay with the Aggies but Jans himself has made a decision.

New Mexico State's Chris Jans has received a contract extension through the 2021-22 season, per release.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 26, 2018

It’s a great day for fans of the program, as they get to hold onto a good coach rather than be a constant stepping stone. He’s a good recruiter with ties all over the country, which is extremely important considering that New Mexico State doesn’t have a natural recruiting pipeline. It also helps when going after Junior College and regular transfers, which has been the bread and butter of the program.

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The athletic program for New Mexico State is in a unique situation. They were kicked out of the Sun Belt for football and are floated on the WAC which is considered to be the least stable of the 32 Division One Basketball conferences. At a time of uncertainty with the program in general, having a coach that seems to stick around for a little while longer at least creates some calm. The success for Aggies Basketball looks to continue for the foreseeable future.