Potential Coach Profile: Niko Medved

After eight years at the helm, Richard Pitino is out at Minnesota. Just once in eight seasons was he able to finish the season with a winning record in Big Ten play, and he was able to win just one NCAA Tournament game in two appearances.

Most troubling to some followers of the program was his inability to get in-state prospects to stay home and be Gophers. Since 2017, Just three of 23 offered in-state prospects chose to stay home. Daniel Oturu, Gabe Kalscheur, and Jarvis Omersa, all in the 2018 class, were the only three that chose to be Gophers.

With coaching search season underway, TGR will take a deeper look at some of the candidates that could be on Minnesota's radar:

Age: 47

Hometown: Roseville, Minnesota

Alma Mater: University of Minnesota

Buyout: $937,500 (25% of his five-year, $3.75 mil contract)

Coaching History: Macalester Associate Head Coach (1997-1999), Furman Assistant Coach (1999-2006), Minnesota Assistant (2006-2007), Colorado State Assistant (2007-2013), Furman Head Coach (2013-2017), Drake Head Coach (2017-2018), Colorado State Head Coach (2018-Present)

Coaching Record: 128-125 overall;

Furman - 2013-2017 - (62-71, 33-37 in Southern Conference)

Drake - 2017-2018 - (17-17, 10-8 in Missouri Valley)

Colorado State - 2018-Present - (49-37, 32-22 in Mountain West)

NCAA Tournament Record: 0-0 (in 2021 NIT)

Accolades: 1x Southern Conference Coach of the Year, 1x Mountain West Coach of the Year (2021)

Niko Medved started his coaching career at Macalester (D-III, MIAC) and was the associate head coach there from 1997-1999.

His first division-I assistant job was at Furman, and Medved was there from 1999-2006. In that time, he coached under Larry Davis and the Paladins went 103-103 in his time there.

Pit stop back at his Alma Mater

In 2006, Niko Medved came back to the University of Minnesota under Dan Monson. That didn't last long, as Monson resigned halfway through the season, and Jim Molinari replaced him for the season. The Gophers finished 9-22 (3-13 in Big Ten). Molinari was replaced by Tubby Smith the next year.

First time at Colorado State

From 2007-2013, he joined Tim Miles at Colorado State as an assistant coach. While there, he helped Miles lead the Rams to four straight postseason appearances, including back to back trips to the NCAA Tournament in 2012 and 2013.

In 2013, Niko Medved was selected for the tall task of turning around the Furman Paladins. His first stint there as an assistant ended with a .500 record overall, but when him and head coach Larry Davis left, they had waning success and went 7-24 the year before he arrived.

In his first two seasons as head coach of the Paladins, Medved struggled to win, but built a foundation around the young pieces that would be there for the long haul. In year one, they went 9-21, and improved to 11-22 in his second year as head coach.

In 2015-16, his core that stuck with him went 19-16 and finished third in the Southern Conference. In 2016-17, Medved's Paladins went 23-12, and 14-4 in conference and being a part of a three-way tie atop the Southern Conference. Medved was named Southern Conference Coach of the Year in his final year at Furman.

Almost more impressive is the way Medved left Furman in a sustainable spot. After not winning more than 10 games in the conference season since 2010, Medved did so in both his third and fourth seasons, and Furman has done so every year since his departure. From 1990 to his arrival in 2013, Furman only accomplished that twice.

After the success he had at Furman, Niko Medved had a one year pitstop in the Mountain Valley Conference where he coached the Drake Bulldogs in 2017-18.

Why did it only last one season? Medved took a team that had won less than 10 games the past three years in a row, and went 17-17 along with a positive record in the MVC in his first year.

That turnaround helped set the foundation for current Drake coach Darian DeVries, who has won 20+ games at Drake in the past three years since.

Medved's first year at Colorado State was a slight improvement over the previous regime. The Rams went 12-20, but improved their conference win total from 4-14 to 7-17.

In year two, the Rams went on to win 20 games, and went 11-7 in the conference which was good for a fifth place finish in the Mountain West. This Rams team was getting it done with youth, so the foundation looked to be in place. Freshman Isaiah Stevens from Allen, Texas led the way at 19 points, while another freshman was third on the team in scoring.

That freshman was Breck School, and Minneapolis, Minnesota native David Roddy. He averaged 11.4 points per game for the Rams to go along with 5.6 rebounds per game in his first season. The reason this is significant, is because Roddy had an offer from Richard Pitino and Minnesota, but chose to go to Colorado State where he had better relationships with Niko Medved, and assistant coach Dave Thorson, legendary Minnesota high school coach at De La Salle.

The 2020-21 season for the Rams has been a good one again. In a shortened season, the Rams are sitting at 18-6 and will play Buffalo in the first round of the NIT. They finished second in the Mountain West with a 14-4 record, and just barely missed the NCAA Tournament as one of the first four teams out.

Niko Medved was named the 2021 Mountain West Coach of the Year, and Minnesota native David Roddy was selected to be 1st team All-Conference.