Report: Minnesota hires Colorado State's Niko Medved as next head coach

Not too long after firing Ben Johnson, Minnesota has found its next head coach. Niko Medved will be on the sidelines next season for the Golden Gophers, getting hired away from Colorado State, Matt Norlander of CBS Sports reports. Medved returns back home after attending Minnesota during his college days.

Outside of attending the school, there is some history between Medved and Minnesota. A two-year period in 2006 saw Medved work as an assistant coach under Dan Monson and Tubby Smith. He left there for another assistant role at Colorado State before Furman was the first school to offer Medved a head coaching role.

Drake provided a one-year stop before Colorado State came calling in 2018. Medved has built a consistent program, winning at least 20 games in five of his seven seasons. Some silverware was finally won when the Rams defeated Boise State in this year’s Mountain West Tournament championship game.

But the metric everyone looks at is the NCAA Tournament. Medved has been to three, all within the last four seasons. A spot in the Final Four was earned in 2024, taking down Virginia to get into the official field. Unfortunately, there has been no advancement past the first round.

Medved was someone linked with the Minnesota job from the beginning. The match has finally been made as he will take over ahead of the 2025-2026 season. A solid hire for the Golden Gophers, adding to what is an already stacked group of coaches inside the expanded Big Ten.

More on recent history for Minnesota

Minnesota has struggled to find consistency over recent years. Since 2000, there are just six NCAA Tournament appearances for the program and not much success once in the field. A win apiece came in 2013 and 2019, both as double-digit seeds, as the school’s last second-weekend appearance was in 1997.

Getting above .500 in Big Ten play has been a struggle as well. Back in 2016-2017, Richard Pitino had a nice season in which Minnesota went 24-10 overall and 11-7 in conference play to earn fourth place. But it sadly did not translate in the postseason, winning once at the Big Ten Tournament before being bounced in the famous five over 12-seed upset in March Madness.

Medved is hoping to bring some juice to the program and get a consistent winner. Rebuilds can take some time but eventually getting results as he did in Fort Collins would be a massive improvement for Minnesota.