The Gophers men’s basketball team’s expected new coaching hire worked his way through the coaching ranks.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
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The expected new Gophers men’s basketball coach worked his way up from being a longtime assistant to turning around programs at the mid-major level to making three NCAA tournaments at Colorado State.
Growing up in the Twin Cities and attending the University of Minnesota were just as important to his journey as his time making a name for himself in Fort Collins, Colo. It all contributed to creating the respected person and program builder he is today.
Here are important things to know about Medved:
Roseville and Slovenia roots
Medved’s father was a Slovenian immigrant who moved to the U.S. at age 7 and eventually served as the Honorary Consul of Slovenia in Minnesota. One of three sons of Miro and Karen Medved, Niko competed in basketball and golf at Roseville High before graduating in 1992. His high school basketball coach, Kent Paulson, was in the movie “Little Big League” as the Twins’ third-base coach.
Gophers fan to team member
Medved grew up going to Gophers games at Williams Arena because his father had season tickets since the late 1960s. Like his dad, Medved would attend the U, but he also landed a spot on Clem Haskins’ Gophers basketball staff as a student manager from 1992-96.
“My managers become head coaches and influential on different staffs,” Haskins told the Star Tribune in 2017. “That makes me feel good. I watch those teams play.”
Graduating just before the Gophers’ 1997 Final Four season, Medved started building his coaching résumé while getting his master’s degree as an associate head coach at Division III Macalester from 1997-99.
Bond with Thorson
While together on Haskins’ staff from 1992-94, Medved and assistant coach Dave Thorson developed a tight relationship that would last through the years.
“Niko was my right hand,” said Thorson years later of when he oversaw the Gophers student managers.
Gophers set to hire Niko Medved as their new men’s basketball coach
They were together at Colorado State from 2018-21 before Thorson left to join Ben Johnson with the Gophers.
Paying dues as assistant
Medved spent 14 seasons as a Division I assistant before he got his first head coaching job.
It started in 1999 when his Gophers connections paid off, landing him his first D-I assistant spot with former Haskins assistant Larry Davis at Furman in Greenville, S.C.
In 2006, Medved was a finalist to be the next Furman head coach when Davis went to Cincinnati, but when he didn’t get it, he was without a job.
He almost took a break from coaching but latched on at the last minute on Gophers coach Dan Monson’s staff in an administrative role. He was promoted to assistant when Monson was fired early in 2006-07 before Jim Molinari took over as interim coach.
“Just stay with it, don’t quit right now,” Medved said then about advice from friends. “Hang with it and something good is going to happen.‘”
His next stop was Colorado State. Medved spent six seasons as an assistant on Tim Miles’ and Larry Eustachy’s staffs, including his first NCAA tournaments in 2012 and 2013. That was the last time the Rams won an NCAA tournament game before this year.
Building from scratch
Drake was coming off a seven-win season and had finished last in the Missouri Valley when Medved arrived in 2017. Expectations changed with a 10-win improvement in just one season, but the winning culture started to build early.
The Bulldogs opened the season with a win over Wake Forest to finish third in the Paradise Jam. They nearly upset the Gophers in a 68-67 loss at the Barn.
At Furman and Colorado State, Medved experienced impressive turnarounds twice with eight more wins from the previous season.
Getting to Big Dance
Former Breck two-sport star David Roddy turned himself into an NBA first-round pick in three seasons at Colorado State under Medved from 2019-22.
As a junior, Roddy was named Mountain West player of the year and led the Rams to their first NCAA tournament appearance in nine years.
Also on that squad was current Wisconsin All-American John Tonje, who eventually transferred to Missouri and the Badgers. Without Tonje and Roddy, Medved had a down year at 15-18 in 2022-23, but he bounced back to lead the Rams to NCAA tourney wins the last two seasons.
Year-by-year coaching career
1997-99: Macalester associate head coach
1999-2006: Furman assistant
2006-07: Gophers assistant
2007-13: Colorado State assistant
2013-17: Furman head coach
2017-18: Drake head coach
2018-25: Colorado State head coach
2025-present: Gophers head coach
