All Things Gophers Coaching Search Thread (rumors, tweets, tid-bits and more)

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bga1 said:
According to this writer - Medved is CSUs Mark Few. Pretty high praise!


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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Thanks for sharing
 



howeda7 said:
What does WVU have to do with him?
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They're also looking for a coach now, have pretty decent NIL, and are located in the hometown of his wife, whose dad is a quite wealthy businessperson in WV, and grand-dad was a WVU professor. Her family has been in WV since it was VA and not WV.

I'm not sure the family factor is on Minnesota's side here. And I'm not sure very many others are either.
 

2timegopheralum said:
They're also looking for a coach now, have pretty decent NIL, and are located in the hometown of his wife, whose dad is a quite wealthy businessperson in WV, and grand-dad was a WVU professor. Her family has been in WV since it was VA and not WV.

I'm not sure the family factor is on Minnesota's side here. And I'm not sure very many others are either.
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He's not going to WVU. They're most likely hiring the Utah State coach a former Huggins assistant.
 


howeda7 said:
What does WVU have to do with him?
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From Wheeling News-Register:
As for who (WVU AD) Baker may look at to replace DeVries, Colorado State head coach Niko Medved was a top candidate a year ago, before Baker went with DeVries.

Medved has ties to Morgantown through his wife, Erica, who was a former star athlete at Morgantown High.
 

Minnesara said:
From Wheeling News-Register:
As for who (WVU AD) Baker may look at to replace DeVries, Colorado State head coach Niko Medved was a top candidate a year ago, before Baker went with DeVries.

Medved has ties to Morgantown through his wife, Erica, who was a former star athlete at Morgantown High.
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I believe there's a handshake deal in place. It's always possible the coaching carousel will shake it up (Cronin going to Nova, UCLA coming after him or something) but I don't think it will be for WVU. That's a tough job even before it became an outlier in the new Big 12.
 

Minnesara said:
From Wheeling News-Register:
As for who (WVU AD) Baker may look at to replace DeVries, Colorado State head coach Niko Medved was a top candidate a year ago, before Baker went with DeVries.

Medved has ties to Morgantown through his wife, Erica, who was a former star athlete at Morgantown High.
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They met at Furman, dated when she was still a student actually.

Her dad is a business community bigwheel in Morgantown and their family has been in WV for more than 200 years.

I don't like how this reads for Minnesota.
 







USAF said:
You might be confusing one set of posters for another.

Medved is still a Settle.

Which, by the way, isn't the same as "does nothing for me."
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I'm speaking generally. The fan base has gone from "Meh" to excited about him to worried he'll take a different job. All in 5 days. It's Minnesota sports. Can't blame anyone for being paranoid.
 



howeda7 said:
I believe there's a handshake deal in place. It's always possible the coaching carousel will shake it up (Cronin going to Nova, UCLA coming after him or something) but I don't think it will be for WVU. That's a tough job even before it became an outlier in the new Big 12.
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According to this article, Medved’s father in law is “a major donor and season ticket holder.” I think I agree with you in general, but this certainly isn’t nothing, especially if her dad has influence.
 


matt said:
According to this article, Medved’s father in law is “a major donor and season ticket holder.” I think I agree with you in general, but this certainly isn’t nothing, especially if her dad has influence.
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I wonder how that works with family.....can the coaches immediate family be a booster? I know most of those lines have been blurred or eliminated but I feel like that could have been an issue in the past.

Until the day a new coach is named literally anything can happen. I know the assumption has been that it will be Medved, and I think it will be as well, but fans should be ready for anything because the truth of it is that we don't know what is going to happen. Hopefully CSU doesn't go on a long tournament run so that we don't have to wait around too long to find out :)
 


GopherOhana said:
i am on the opposite of this. if it is niko, hoping he does go deep to pump up his brand even though we wait
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There could certainly be some positive in that however if we want him in place when the portal window opens we need them to not survive the weekend.
 

2timegopheralum said:
They're also looking for a coach now, have pretty decent NIL, and are located in the hometown of his wife, whose dad is a quite wealthy businessperson in WV, and grand-dad was a WVU professor. Her family has been in WV since it was VA and not WV.

I'm not sure the family factor is on Minnesota's side here. And I'm not sure very many others are either.
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Coach needs to tell the missus, "I am the man, do as I say." That's how it works.
 



howeda7 said:
I'm speaking generally. The fan base has gone from "Meh" to excited about him to worried he'll take a different job. All in 5 days. It's Minnesota sports. Can't blame anyone for being paranoid.
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I'm guilty. It was just one game, but CSU's performance in the tourney championship vaulted him up the rankings for me.
 


I'm not too worried about it. Medved is an alum, gopher fan, and very strong ties to the state. It's his job not his wife's job.

I'm married and my wife is from Green Bay. If I had the option to take the Vikings coaching job vs the Packers, there wouldn't even be a hesitation.
 

matt said:
According to this article, Medved’s father in law is “a major donor and season ticket holder.” I think I agree with you in general, but this certainly isn’t nothing, especially if her dad has influence.
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Do you usually mold your career based on what your father-in-law wants? This newfound paranoia over Niko is amazing.
 

forever a gopher said:
Do you usually mold your career based on what your father-in-law wants? This newfound paranoia over Niko is amazing.
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It is what people do when there is time and no new information. Look at the knots some people twisted themselves into during the later part of the season as they worked out all the reasons why Johnson wasn't going to be fired.
 




Bad Gopher said:
Yeah, it's worry time.
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In terms of delays, perhaps. In terms of finding a coach with potential, no. There are more good coaches in the D1 universe than DeVries, McCollum, and Medved. For example, Kent State last night won at St. Bonaventure by 19. Their coach has a .621 winning percentage there, nine 20-win seasons, and no losing seasons in 14 years.
 

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