Moby Madness is looking for a new maestro.
Niko Medved, who just completed a historic, 26-10 season as men’s basketball coach at CSU Rams, is expected to take the same position with Minnesota, multiple news outlets reported Monday.
Medved, 51, posted a 143-85 record over seven seasons in Fort Collins, and those 143 victories rank second all-time in CSU history behind Jim Williams, who won 352 contests from 1954-1980.
CSU entered the NCAA Tournament as one of the hottest teams in the country, having won 11 in a row before being knocked out of the Big Dance on Sunday by Maryland on a controversial last-second bank shot by Terrapins center Derik Queen.
Terms of Medved’s new contract were not immediately available. Last April, CSU announced that it had signed Medved to a new five-year extension through 2029 with option years for 2029-30 and 2030-31. That extension paid Medved $1.7 million annually and had him slated to make at least $1.75 million in 2025-26. According to USA Today, this season’s compensation ranked second among Mountain West Conference men’s basketball coaches at public schools behind San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher ($2.4 million).
As part of his buyout from CSU, Medved owes 33% of the remaining value of his contract, which from a 2029 end date would total at least $2.4 million.
CSU’s 26 wins this past season were tied for the second-most of any Rams men’s basketball campaign and the most since Larry Eustachy’s 2012-13 squad posted a 26-9 record in 2012-13. Of the 15 20-win seasons in CSU history, Medved was the coach for five of them.
Medved steered the Rams to three NCAA tourney appearances over the last four seasons, and CSU’s Mountain West Conference tournament championship in 2025 was the program’s first since 2003.
The Rams opened the season with a 5-5 record and were expected to face something of a transitional year after the loss of CSU’s all-time leading scorer, point guard Isaiah Stevens, following a 25-11 record in ’23-24. But thanks to all-league wing Nique Clifford and the emergence of sophomore guard Kyan Evans, CSU posted a 16-4 record in conference play, good for second in the Mountain West.
Several Minnesota news outlets had reported that Medved, a Twin Cities native, was the top target of Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle to replace the fired Ben Johnson. CSU AD John Weber told The Denver Post on Selection Sunday that he had yet to talk to another university seeking permission to speak to Medved.
This is a developing story. Please check back with DenverPost.com for updates.
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