FORT COLLINS — As of late Sunday afternoon, John Weber said he hadn’t heard squat from Minnesota.
Not the Wild. Not the Timberwolves. Not the Vikings. Not the Twins. Not Minnesota Fats. And certainly not the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
“I have not spoken to anyone,” the CSU athletic director told me firmly on Sunday at Canvas Stadium after his Rams drew Memphis in the 2025 NCAA men’s basketball tournament. “And I’m not going to comment any more on any rumors or conjectures.”
If they beat Anfernee Hardaway’s Tigers — and they should, that seeding was criminal — his phone might start ringing off the hook.
Because the rumors, sadly, aren’t going away. Both daily newspapers in the Twin Cities say the Gophers, who fired coach Ben Johnson last week, are about to make a beeline for Rams boss Niko Medved. One, because the 51-year-old happens to be one of the best college basketball coaches in the country. And two, because Medved also happens to be a Twin Cities native.
Weber can’t stop the chatter. But he can get out in front of the story, and maybe even dissuade some of the potential suitors, with two simple words:
Lifetime contract.
And by “lifetime,” I mean a clause similar to the one the CU Buffs gave Tad Boyle.
One that reads, in part: “Upon mutual agreement of the parties and with the approval of the Chancellor of the University, Boyle may be transitioned from the Head Basketball Coach position to a Special Assistant to the Athletics Director position at the University.”
Medved last April agreed to an extension through the 2028-29 season with one-year options for both ’29-30 and ’30-31. He makes $1.7 million this season, which doesn’t trail CSU football coach Jay Norvell by much ($1.8 million). There’s a scheduled bump to $1.75 million in ’25-26 and to $1.8 million in ’26-27.
If Tad wants to be a Buff forever, he can. Medved deserves the same consideration, at the least, for the beast he’s built in FoCo.
As part of his buyout, Medved would owe 33% of the remaining base salary left. So, if the cut off on money owed is June 30, 2029, for example, then Medved or a school hiring him would need $1.85 million to buy out the rest of his current contract.
For a Big Ten school, that’s couch change.
Enter the Gophers. Johnson made $2.08 million of total pay in ’24-25, per USA Today, with a reported salary of $1.95 million, lowest in the Big Ten. The “U” is paying a $2.93 million buyout.
According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Minnesota officials aren’t waiting around, either. Apparently, Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle has said he wants a new coach in place by March 24, when the transfer portal re-opens for business.
“With the timing of the search, obviously, we want to be very efficient and move quickly, because of the transfer portal and because of the collective NIL and institutional NIL,” Coyle told reporters. “We want to have those conversations quickly.”
CSU can’t win a bidding war with Minnesota or Iowa, if it comes to that. If it’s about climbing, about the money or the prestige, that’s not a fair fight. It never will be.
But if you can’t swing with dollars, swing with something else. The Rams are moving to the Pac-12 next summer and will enter it as arguably the third-best hoops program of the lot, trailing only Gonzaga and San Diego State.
Niko is CSU’s Mark Few. If you’re not going to match Few’s salary ($2.8 million in 2025, according to USA Today), then you should at least try to match Few’s job security.
Weber and Medved got together on last year’s extension and have a good working relationship, a good understanding of where the other guy’s coming from.
“Yep,” Weber said, “I’ve known him a long time.”
“Would you match, if say, a $3 million-ish offer came along from somebody else?” I asked.
“I’m not going to comment on any of that,” Weber replied.
“How close is your Rolodex of names, which I presume you’re always updating?
“Everybody does,” Weber replied. “I think every AD does. You don’t want it, but for every job, it’s part of my job.”
“Do the rumors take away from the joy of this week?”
“That’s part of the job, right?” Weber replied. “And it’s no different than, you know, in my own background (in the business world). Whether it was a salesperson, a marketing person, an engineer. I mean, it’s no different.”
Nobody wants to rain on the parade, and Rams fans and officials who turned up at Canvas on Sunday did so looking to party. A table of cookies on trays rested in one corner of the fourth floor, with a bar open at another.
There was a faint hope in the room that CSU could be sent to Denver for its opening-weekend destination, but that was dashed early into the CBS selection show. When the eight teams assigned to Ball Arena — Michigan, UC-San Diego, Texas A&M, Yale, BYU, VCU, Wisconsin and Montana — were announced, Rams fans let out an audible gasp.
They did the same when San Diego State drew North Carolina in a First Four matchup. And again when New Mexico landed a No. 10 seed to face Marquette. When Utah State landed a No. 10 seed to take on UCLA, they booed. Justifiably.
The Mountain West championship trophy, whose giant silver ball at the top seemed to catch the setting Front Range sun perfectly, had the best seat in the house, a front-row perch with an unobstructed view. That part was new — CSU hadn’t won a conference tourney since 2003, so fans of all ages queued up for selfies with the Rams’ latest hardware.
As CBS hosts Adam Zucker, Clark Kellogg, Jay Wright and Seth Davis went through their paces, though, it sat on a table between the left shoulder of Nique Clifford and the right shoulder of Jaylen Crocker-Johnson.
Directly behind them, Medved sat in the center of the circle with university president Amy Parsons immediately to his right. Oh, to be a fly on that wall in a few days.
“It’s a great problem, OK?” Weber continued. “It means that we’re doing the right things, and we’ve got the right coaches, and the right people, and the right athletes. This happens every year.”
With a lifetime contract, though, it just might stop.
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