FORT WORTH, Texas — Jim Christian resigned from Kent State to become TCU's men's basketball coach.

Kent State athletic director Laing Kennedy announced Christian's move in a statement today. A person with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed late Friday to The Associated Press that TCU had reached an agreement with Christian.

Christian was expected to be introduced during a news conference on the TCU campus Saturday afternoon.

Christian was 138-58 in six years at Kent State. The Golden Flashes were 28-7 this season, losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament to UNLV.

Neil Dougherty was fired by TCU on March 16, three days after an 14-16 season ended. He had a year left on his contract.

Dougherty was 75-108 in his six seasons, with a winning record only once.

At Kent State, the 41-year-old Christian became the first Mid-American Conference coach to win 20 games in each of his first six seasons. But he didn't win a postseason game, losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament twice and the NIT three times.

After the Golden Flashes went 25-9 with an NCAA appearance in 2005-06, Christian got a new seven-year contract through the 2012-13 season.

The other known candidates for the TCU job were Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton, Tennessee-Chattanooga coach John Shulman and Buzz Peterson, the director of player personnel for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats.

Kent State will conduct a national search for Christian's replacement, Kennedy said.