Report: Niko Medved has emerged as 'frontrunner' to be Gophers' next coach

Currently the Colorado State coach, Medved is a Minneapolis native who attended Minnesota in the 1990s.

Feb 25, 2025; Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA; Colorado State Rams head coach Niko Medved in the second half against the Air Force Falcons at Clune Arena. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Colorado State coach Niko Medved "has emerged as the frontrunner" to be the next head men's basketball coach at the University of Minnesota, according to Field of 68's Jeff Goodman.

Ever since the Gophers announced Ben Johnson's firing in a press release sent out after 1 a.m. central time on Thursday morning, Medved has seemed like one of the logical favorites to be his replacement. The 51 year-old is a Minneapolis native who attended Minnesota in the 1990s, was a Gophers assistant coach for one season in the mid-2000s, and has had quite a bit of success at CSU in recent years.

After beating Boise State in the Mountain West championship game on Saturday, the Rams are headed to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the last four seasons. They've gone 25-9 this season, are riding a ten-game winning streak, and rank in the top 50 in the nation in both offensive and defensive efficiency (per Kenpom). Colorado State was a 6 seed in 2022 and made it out of the First Four last year as a 10 seed.

This has been just an absolutely fabulous coaching job this season from Niko Medved.

Rams graduated four starters, took their lumps early on but have blossomed into a truly excellent basketball team. Player development there has been elite for a long time, as are the Xs & Os.
— Kevin Sweeney (@CBB_Central) March 16, 2025

Across seven seasons with CSU, Medved has compiled a 142-84 record, going 78-50 in conference games. Prior to his tenure there, he was the head coach at Furman for four seasons and at Drake for one year. He began his coaching career as an assistant at D-III Macalester in St. Paul, then at Furman, Minnesota, and Colorado State. Medved was on the Gophers' staff in the 2006-07 season, when Dan Monson resigned in the middle of the year.

Johnson, also a Minnesota alum, became a first-time head coach when the Gophers hired him in 2021. He went 56-71 (22-57 in the Big Ten) across four seasons.

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