Colorado State Coach Out After Tourney Loss, Headed to Minnesota

Last weekend, the Colorado State Men's Basketball team endured the heartbreak of losing to Maryland on a buzzer beater to end their storybook run in the NCAA championship tournament.

Just after that loss, the following day, the school, the athletes and fans of the team learned of another heartbreaking loss: their coach.

Niko Medved has been the head coach at CSU for the last seven seasons, after previously serving as an assistant coach under former head coach Tim Miles back in the early 2010s. Those teams made it to the NCAA tournament in the 2012 and 2013 seasons, before Medved left for a head coaching opportunity elsewhere.

His return to CSU in 2018 was an exciting time, and proved fruitful as he again led the Rams back to the tournament in the 2022 season, their first since he was an assistant coach back in 2013. They made the tournament again last season as well.

Then this season, the team finished with a 26-10 record, good for 2nd in the Mountain West conference and another appearance in the NCAA tournament, where they upset #5 seed Memphis in the first round, before losing the heartbreaker Sunday to Maryland.

Medved resigned his position the day after that game to accept an offer to coach at the University of Minnesota, near where he grew up and fell in love with the game of basketball. He said he doesn't like the timing of leaving - particularly after such a painful loss and exciting time for Rams basketball - but that the allure of home is too strong to resist.

Now Colorado State is left looking for a new coach to lead the squad into the 2025-2026 season. Here's hoping the run of NCAA tournament appearances can continue without him.